ExaltedStay Night
by Boyboy180
Summary: Shirou is pulled into creation by a botched ritual, how will he impact the world (if at all) Fate/Stay night x Exalted I must say to read my final notes in each chapter, I normally make note of things like the imaginary number problem. I don't own either exalted or any part of the fate series
1. Prologue part 1

Prologue: Kaleidoscope

* * *

"Are you sure about this Rin?" asked the boy with red hair.

he and the girl with black hair stood in a basement filled with many strange tools that the girl would sometimes use.

"I am sure Shirou, I have collected everything we need to do this. It's time to do this!" replied the girl

* * *

These two were in truth Mages, they could create miracles.

The boy with red hair is named Shirou. He is not a very talented Mage but he has put effort into learning more. Shirou's talents with magic involve "Sword", when swords are the focus his magic becomes amazing.

The girl with black hair in twin-tails is named Rin. Unlike Shirou, Rin was a very talented Mage with access to a large quantity of magic power. Rin's specific talent with magic was "Imaginary Element", what this means is that she can manipulate all basic elements of magic, a rare talent

* * *

"We need to do this Shirou, If we create a new Jeweled Sword then we might be able to use other True Magic" Rin said as she drew another part of the magic circle she would use to attempt to bind the sword into reality, "Don't you want a way to see Saber again?" she continued, looking at Shirou as though he had been implying that very thing.

Shirou sighed as he drew a part of the circle "Of course I want to see her but Kaleidoscope is a very different magic to Heaven's Feel, Are you sure you can do this?"

The two of them had been planning to do this for a while so it was strange that Shirou was having second thoughts right before the ritual was to be performed

A few months ago the two had fought together in a battle of mages called the Holy Grail War, in which they barely came out victorious. In this battle they had created an alliance between themselves and some other mages in the war and with the help of them and the servants (Magical summons of lost heroes) of all mages in the alliance they were able to win.

Now Rin planned an audacious magical ritual of her own. The Tohsaka family that Rin was a part of was long ago given a gift by a great sorcerer, a magical tool known as the Jeweled Sword Zelretch, this tool could allow the user to pull Mana from other dimensions to power their spells. During the Holy Grail War, Rin and Shirou along with another Mage called Illyasviel were able to create a passable fake of the tool for Rin to use in order to save her sister. In the present Rin is planning to perform the creation of the Sword again in order to, in her own words, "Do it properly this time".

As the two of them continued creating the magic circle for the ritual, another conversation of importance was happening elsewhere in town

* * *

Sakura was a kind girl with hair dyed purple from magic experiments earlier in her life, at the moment she was sitting in Shirou's house across town talking to a friend of hers and Shirou; Taiga, their teacher (on those days they actually attend school).

Taiga had come today to drop off some work for Shirou to do as he had missed school yesterday (helping Rin with her ritual, not that Taiga was to know), Sakura had decided to talk to her now as if Taiga wasn't distracted she would probably try and find Shirou, which could be disastrous if she were to find him, say, in the middle of a magic ritual.

"You tell that boy that he is to stop missing school, that is 3 times this week" Moaned Taiga, Sakura felt sorry for Taiga as while Taiga would normally be able to tell Shirou that in person, events were out of her control. Taiga's calendar was filled with meetings for the next few months, at least one of these meetings was her being told off for striking students with her practice sword.

"I will miss Fujimura" said Sakura as she nodded, She would tell Shirou that anyway, he was spending too much time with Rin for her liking.

* * *

A few hours later Sakura was beginning to make supper for herself and Shirou, Taiga had left a few minutes after she had agreed to talk to Shirou about his attendance. As she looked at the darkness out the window, Sakura was forced to think of the events of a few months ago when she came close to trying to kill her friends. She had let the darkness within the Holy Grail take her over, if Rin had not had the Fake Jeweled sword then she might have very well killed her.

As Sakura finished up supper she began to worry about Shirou, he said he would be back by now. She decided to wait a few more minutes just in case.

Seven minutes later, Sakura was leaving the Emiya residence, hurrying to check on Shirou and Rin. As she ran along the dark streets she thought again of the past, if Shirou and Rin were hurt then Sakura would make sure that the two of them would be okay, it was what she owed them for all the trouble they went to in order to save her.

At the Tohsaka mansion, Sakura slowed and then stopped. what she saw clearly could not be real.

The Mansion had been completely destroyed, all that remained was rubble

Sakura ran pas the rubble, she had to find them! When she got near to the center of the destruction she found Rin, alive but pinned under rubble. Sakura was able to get her out and then continued looking for Shirou.

A few minutes later when she couldn't find him she ran over to Rin.

"Where is he Rin? What happened?" Asked Sakura as she held Rin in fear and desperation.

Rin's eyes slowly opened and she croaked "Gone..."

"Gone! What do you mean gone?" begged Sakura, now panicking

"He got pulled into the magic, he vanished right before me."

* * *

Shirou didn't know where he was, he felt grass on his back and wind on his face. He smelled the clear air around him, definitely not a city.

After a while Shirou managed to open his eyes, he was lying on the ground on what appeared to be a hill. He tried to stand and as he did he felt something very wrong, the Mana in this place was strange; there was too much of it. He felt a burning sensation in his magic circuits as the Mana washed over him. While the pain wasn't great it was still painful, he decided that until he understood this new place he should be sparing with his use of Magecraft.

* * *

This marks the end of the first part of the prologue, I welcome readers who found this by accident

I have seen ideas like this story before, Crossovers between the world of Exalted and other worlds but they never seem to last very long, hopefully I buck that trend.

Though you haven't seen much exalted yet, the next part of the prologue is based in creation so I think that will be interesting.

First though is a few notes I should make on how Shirou's magecraft translates over, Shirou is (From creation's perspective) A heroic mortal with awakened essence

I would say that he would have been essence 1 during the start of the grail war but by now he is essence 2

I'm simply defining his magecraft as charms, reinforcement for example is the ability to spend a mote to add a single dice to any roll, it's a general use first excellency that can only add one dice

for things like projection and UBW, well, you will see later

Thank you in advance for any suggestions for this story

In reply to the review saying "Rin is the Average One...or suitable for all basic elements. It's Sakura that uses Imaginary element." I thank you for the help, in this case I am pointing out Origins though, Shirou's is "Sword", Rin's is "An Imaginary element" (it's not specific to which) and you are right with Sakura in regards to her Origin being "Imaginary numbers"

Because of reviews I am changing the definition of Rin's origin in the story, It's name is "An Imaginary element" as I found on the type moon wiki but I added that it allowed control over all five main elements


	2. Prologue part 2

Prologue: Creation

* * *

A carriage rumbles down the road by the side of a river. The woman within the carriage sitting with her eyes closed thinking.

She had long brown hair and green eyes, her body was tall and slim. she wore clothes that made one think of the upper class, all silk and ribbons, a dress clearly designed to make all who saw it aware that they were seeing someone with few peers.

Her name was Nereth, she was of the great Tepet bloodline and thus descended from the empress herself. More than simply that she was a dragon blood, a Princess of creation.

during the last few weeks she had been visiting many different ruins around the scavenger lands to try and recover some first age artefacts for the Tepet family, however she had not yet discovered anything of note. It was her dream to restore the Tepet bloodline from the state it was currently in as years ago they had lost nearly all of their political power.

* * *

It was a few weeks ago when she took on this mission, her mother informed her of it.

The family head had said that the Tepet bloodline must recover it's power, Nereth took this to mean that she could search for artefacts to fulfil this duty. For Nereth artefacts from the first age were an amazing treasure as they could perform miracles that modern artefacts simply could not.

She had decided to begin her search in the east as she hoped that Lookshy had missed some artefacts, seeing as lookshy was filled with first age artefacts her hope was that she could find some in the east too.

* * *

The issue was that after a few months of searching she was beginning to feel bored, she had searched about six or seven ruins thus far and found no artefacts, first age or otherwise, within them. she was now setting out for the far east to see if she would have any more luck there.

As she sat and thought about the world the carriage was approaching a city where they were going to stop to pick up supplies.

Nexus was a large city, in fact it was likely one of the largest cities in all of creation. It was also a hive of scum and villainy, the worst of the worst lived here. the city was build near multiple rivers so it was a great place to do trading however.

* * *

A few hours later the carriage was at the gates, Nereth talked to one of her guards who was outside the carriage riding a horse and the guard set off to inform the rest of her retainers of what she would wish to buy from Nexus. her retainers would be buying their own things of course but while she was here Nereth decided that she should be allowed a few choices, Nexus was one of the greatest trading cities in the world, they would likely have what she wanted.

Inside the city the carriage was parked and Nereth was led by her guards to the manor of a wealthy noble that had offered her a guest room in return for some Tepet goodwill (Nereth was thankful for his offer but didn't really care for his very obvious hints that he could "Be rewarded" by Tepet for this action.

As night came Nereth thought more about the world, after the empress vanished five years ago the blessed isle was fine for a while. She had disappeared before for up to a few months so no one really wanted to have stolen her throne while she was away. however as the years passed, a few Dynasts decided that she was not going to be coming back for a while so they placed a puppet upon the throne as a regent. that began causing new issues as now the thousand scales, the bureaucracy that kept the empire running was falling apart due to corruption from within.

Then there is the problem with the Anathema, Demons from the past returned to destroy the world. they returned after the empress went missing and now they are causing even more chaos, some are even trying to create their own countries. Those cursed nations will likely be one of the largest problems in the coming years as their leaders are the very demons the first dragon blooded sealed away.

Sighing deeply, Nereth dressed for bed and went to sleep, still thinking about all the problems in this world.

* * *

The next day, Nereth left early. Her carriage was ready and waiting to take her onward into the east.

The journey east would not be much harder than the journey this far and as she got further from Lookshy, the chance of her finding artefacts improved.

A few days later Nereth was doing what she always did while travelling, reading and thinking. She read books about the east, searching for references to ruins and thought about the world and the people. the day was quiet and the only sounds were the wind in the trees, the river besides them and the chatting of her retainers.

Suddenly there was a sound from outside the carriage, A "thunk" sound as something struck the carriage. suddenly there was a lot of movement outside the carriage, Nereth got out and saw a small scale battle going on. It appeared that they were under attack from bandits.

The bandit leader was standing behind a few dozen bandits armed with knives and bows, the leader swung a sword around rallying the attack. Nereth knew that her retainers could give a good fight to the bandits but she would lose most of them. She liked her retainers too much to lose them to a random bandit attack so she called out "Cease fighting!" and ran to the front of the battle.

Her retainers tried to stand in front of her to guard her but she stepped forwards and called over to the bandit leader "What do you want of us?", the bandit leader laughed and called back "Everythin' you 'ave to give miss, me and my boys need your gold and your supplies!"

As the bandit leader raised his sword to order his allies forward another arrow flew, not from the bandits but from the hill behind them. It struck the Bandit leader in the back and it pierced the whole way through, there was something strange about the arrow though, it was seemingly made of pure metal and it had a second shaft wrapped around the main shaft.

Within a moment the bandit leader had begun to bleed profusely, the blood seeming to be drawn in by the strange arrow

* * *

And with this ends the second part of the prologue

this one is set in creation obviously

Nereth is an OC I created to have a non-combat focused Dragon blood that could introduce Shirou to this world (if you are wondering about her personality I think a less tsundere Rin)

A note I have to make for a review that I saw is that the Fate characters are from a non-existent route that combines the 3 other routes, this can be defined simply as: Shirou has access to Avalon as per Fate route, he has Unlimited blade works from the route of the same name (and thus knows who archer is) and he saved Sakura as per the heaven's feel route. this adventure where Shirou goes to creation is set after said adventure so there might not be Creation versions of characters, that isn't saying there can't be but they are not likely to show up for a while


	3. Prologue part 3

Prologue: Worlds collide

* * *

The hill that Shirou stood on was covered in grass and trees, it was peaceful.

Shirou knew that he was working with Rin on a project involving the Jeweled sword, a mystic code with the power to access multiple dimensions. Was that where he was now, another world? Another possibility is that he was somehow blasted away, he still might be in his own world just very far away. That theory had problems of course, mostly the Mana he now felt, if anywhere on earth had Mana this strong, mages would have tried to obtain that power for themselves.

He still felt it, the burning sensation from this place's Mana. It still amazed him how strong it was, the air was more thick with Mana than the chamber of the greater grail. it played havoc with his magic circuits, they simply were not designed to channel that level of Mana easily.

Shirou decided that he would stay on this hill for a while, long enough to try and get used to the higher level of Mana. As he sat and meditated he realised that the Mana wasn't simply everywhere, it flowed outwards from some point far in the west. That source of magic would have to be hundreds, maybe thousands of times larger than the Holy grail.

After an hour or two had passed, Shirou decides to test his circuits, to see if they are acclimated to the higher magic level, something simple first; Reinforcement.

He pulls a branch off of a tree and pictures the stick as a club, he then prepares to activate his magic circuits. with great care he allows the Mana to flow, in a moment he feels the pain he feared. luckily it is nowhere near as bad as he thought it might be, instead of a rush of liquid fire the pain is closer to trying to swallow a too hot soup or other hot drink, surprising but not too bad.

In his hands the stick is Reinforced, it becomes not merely a stick, it becomes more stable and the other side of the club becomes heavier, making it a good weapon to bruise flesh or maybe break bones. while his speciality is swords anything that could be a weapon can be made more like a weapon.

Shirou lets go of the Reinforcement and sits down, his back to the tree he took the branch from. soon the pain leaves him as he rests, drawing in the Mana to fill himself.

* * *

A few hours later Shirou sees the sun high in the sky and decides to look for some food, as he walks through the forested hill he sees rabbits that he can hunt.

A few minutes and another club Reinforcement later he has a rabbit ready to eat. He then has to prepare the rabbit but he doesn't have any tools, Shirou realises he then must Project some tool to aid his preparation.

He again prepares himself to use his magic, His future self had taught him the proper way to do Projection so he looks within himself. After a moment of searching he finds his kitchen knives.

For such a simple tool he doesn't need much Mana but he does need focus

"Trace..."

Judging the concept of creation

Hypothesising the basic structure

Duplicating the composition material

Imitating the skill of its making

Sympathising with the experience of its growth

Reproducing the accumulated years

Excelling every manufacturing process

"..On"

In his hands appears his kitchen knife, created in perfection.

With that out of the way, Shirou uses the kitchen knife to finish preparing the rabbit, to create a fire to cook it with he simply does the old "Rub two sticks together hard enough" trick to create a small campfire

* * *

While that rabbit was not the nicest thing he has ever cooked it was still filling

A few minutes after he finished eating he hears some branches snapping in the forest, someone failing at stealth. Shirou stands up and calls out "Who goes there", suddenly there is a rush of movement as someone with shabby clothes rushes at Shirou with a knife

With only a few moments to respond, Shirou reflexively calls his favourite weapons; Kanshou and Bakuya, the Chinese twin swords. Projecting a noble phantasm is more costly than calling out a simple knife yet with these weapons he is very likely to win any fight he becomes a part of.

As the bandit charges at him Shirou takes a defensive stance and strikes at the bandit as he approaches, a large cut is the result, running from the man's side to his shoulder. The bandit cries out in a strange language and falls back bleeding profusely. Shirou then turns to leave and as he does so he sees a commotion below, it appeared to be a large crowd of people with weapons facing a carriage surrounded by guards.

Recognising the clothing of the large force, it looks just like the man who attacked him, Shirou guesses that they must be bandits attacking some travellers.

Shirou quickly comes to the decision to help the travellers, he walks back to the dying man (Killing him quickly, to end his pain) and takes the man's bow.

From this distance it will be hard to land a targeted shot but Shirou is talented, He projects a weapon from the memories of his future self, a weapon that was originally a sword but was modified into an arrow by his future self. "Trace... On!" Shirou raises Hrunting to the bow and takes aim, Hrunting was a sword that hunted blood, as an arrow it was turned into a homing projectile, in theory if the user can see their target they cannot miss. A normal bow couldn't take the full power of this weapon, he would not only need to reinforce the bow but also he had to project the blade at less that 15% of it's true power.

Shirou Reinforced his eyes next, improving his perception. He looked out over the attacking bandits, picking out their leader as the one that was speaking to the lady from the carriage. within a breath, Shirou fired Hrunting.

The bandit leader was caught in the back by the sword/arrow, and fell to the ground. Shirou also felt a little tired, the Mana in this place was stronger but it seemingly required more work to Project, it was tiring him quickly.

With but a moments thought, Shirou ran towards the carriage, they would need more help and Shirou didn't have the power to do that again multiple times.

* * *

And this ends part 3 of the prologue,

there is a part 4 coming later today as part 3 ran on longer than I thought it would

please tell me if you have any suggestions to make or corrections, that has already needed to happen once or twice, just for clarification

I do have a while into the future planned but any ideas could be fun to hear

If you are enjoying this then thank you, for the first story I am writing I hope it is better than I fear it might be


	4. Prologue part 4

Prologue: A chance meeting

* * *

Nereth watched as the bandit leader fell, that arrow shot was from at least 350 yards. In her mind the only thing she thought it could be is an exalted firing an artefact powerbow. If they are coming to help they will likely take at least a minute to get here.

The bandits however where in disarray. With their leader dead some were running away and others were trying to take command.

"Now, Go!" Nereth charged with her forces at the foes, she was drawing her throwing daggers, ready to take out the eyes of a bandit.

With this charge some more bandits ran, reducing their numbers to about a quarter of what they started with, those that remained were likely loyal to their boss and wanted to get him out. The bandit leader would likely die from his wounds anyway, an arrow through the chest is likely a lethal injury.

The bandits didn't seem to care, they would fight for their leader valiantly until their dying breath.

Nereth threw one of her knives into the chest of a bandit charging at her, stopping his charge. She was then forced to kick out at a bandit who had gotten behind her, the shoes she was wearing, while normal shoes, were surprisingly sharp to the bandit.

During this fight her retainers fought bravely, now fighting smaller numbers they were much safer, she saw as one of her bodyguards skewered a bandit who had run around back to burn the carriage.

Within a few more seconds the battle was over, all who hadn't run or died had now surrendered.

Suddenly a call came up from a retainer, someone new was approaching from the hill the arrow was shot from.

* * *

As Shirou reached the carriage he saw that they had finished the fight without him. It didn't look like anyone had taken any serious wounds, which was lucky.

A man walked up to Shirou and began talking to him, however Shirou didn't know the language so to him the man's words were meaningless. Shirou shook his head to show that he didn't understand the man and the man switched to a different language, again Shirou shook his head to show he couldn't understand.

The man looked stumped and he called over another man, before the other man could stand up to walk over the lady that Shirou had seen from the top of the hill walked over. Shirou couldn't describe her using a word other than "Lady", she was obviously wealthy by her dress and Shirou could see she was beautiful. The lady tried a different language, it sounded like an older version of the second language, but for the third time Shirou shook his head.

The lady looked confused and beckoned to him, seemingly inviting him to speak. "I am..." Shirou started but then hesitated, could he trust this woman? He decided to trust in her and finished "Shirou Emiya, pleased to meet you"

* * *

Nereth looked at the man in confusion, He didn't understand Riverspeak, High realm or old realm, most understand at least one of those languages. As she listened to him introduce himself (she could tell by his body language that this was what he was doing), she was wondering what language he was using, it was unlikely to be any other directional language as none of her retainers seemed to be able to understand him, she would recognise any version of Realm. So what then? A tribal tongue perhaps?

Nereth decided to start meditating, she had a charm that she could use for this.

* * *

Shirou stuttered for a moment in talking, the lady had closed her eyes, was she preparing to use magic? The woman then waved her hand as if to say "Keep going" and so Shirou did, though after a while he just started rambling and talking about, for example, how he had that rabbit earlier and how his dream was to be a hero of justice. She had not used her magic yet so it was safe to think that she still didn't understand him.

* * *

About an hour later Nereth's charm was ready she breathed out and thought "Language-learning ritual", in a moment magic rushed through her, the wind translating the boy's words to easy high realm.

"Thank you for waiting," Nereth interjected over whatever the boy was about to say "I can now understand you, shall we talk?"

* * *

Shirou blinked, the lady had just spoken in perfect (if accented) Japanese, that must have been what her magic was for

"Yes," Shirou replied "Shall I introduce myself again?"

The lady nodded and Shirou again said "My name is Shirou Emiya, may I please ask yours?"

* * *

Nereth was shocked by his attitude, she had found during the hour that he was simply a mortal with awakened essence so to hear him speak to her without praising her was a surprise.

"Mortal, you speak to one of the dragon's descendants, do not speak as if we are merely acquaintances met on the side of the road" Nereth calmly spoke.

The boy, Shirou Emiya, looked surprised for a moment and then apologised "I'm sorry, I meant no offence," after waiting a moment he continued, as if he didn't want to look stupid "I'm sorry what exactly do you mean by the dragon's descendent?"

Nereth simply looked at him silently, he clearly didn't know about the dragon blooded, who on earth was he?

* * *

Shirou cringed internally hoping his question had not insulted the lady, it was simply that the phrase "Dragon's descendent" Reminded him of Saber, was this person similar then? Someone with a dragon's blood?

The Lady looked at him as if judging him, trying to tell whether his question was honest. After a few moments she came to a decision and spoke "The Dragon's descendants, better known as the dragon blooded or the exalted are the rulers creation by right. All who live should give their fealty to the Dragon blooded and more specifically the empress." by this time Shirou was quite confused

"The empress?" he asked, The woman went silent and then sighed. "Did you hit your head recently and lose your memories?", Shirou simply shook his head.

The woman looked up at the sky as if thinking, when she looked down she asked simply "What are you?", Shirou then looked at here while thinking of his answer. The only answer he could give was simple; "A hero who can't find his way home".

* * *

And thus ends the prologue

I do want to hear feedback that is not simply "You got Rin's element wrong" I wasn't talking about her elements during that part of the story I was talking about her Origin, If you believe that her origin is something else, show me proof and I will happily change it (I got "An unspecified imaginary element" from the type moon wiki)

But yes back to feedback, Ideas and concepts could be useful, as I have said before I have the first few chapters planned but after that I have only a few ideas.

One thing I will note is this; Shirou is not a normal person by creation's viewpoint, I can easily sum this up by saying "Those in creation don't have magic circuits"

Any other notes I may want to make about the prologue will either be put here or the chapter the review was about.

have fun for now, the true chapter 1 will come within the next week (in theory)

Now we have a forum to discuss things on (and so you can put up suggestions and the like without leaving a review), it can be found at forum/ExaltedStayNight-Forum/216243/

In all honesty I feel stupid for the wrong hyperlink before now


	5. Chapter 1

The journey begins

* * *

 _About 1200 miles or so east of Lookshy_

In a carriage travelling east two people were talking, trying to understand the situation that they were in.

"...so let me sum this up, " Nereth said with her hand to her head "You, a regular human, can easily create artefacts out of nothing but your own magic?".

"Basically" Shirou wasn't about to explain the details of Unlimited blade works to the woman, it would likely just baffle her even more. The things Shirou was interested was mostly the basic facts of this world. according to Nereth, this world was made entirely out of Mana (or essence as they called it). This then raised a question to Shirou, if the world was made of Mana did that mean that the world itself was a form of projection?

From what Shirou understood, the world he had entered was in the age of the gods. They had innumerable gods in this world but from what he understood most were quite a bit weaker that what he had heard the gods of his world were like. The world being in the age of gods explained the abundance of Mana he had felt when he arrived.

It was all quite strange.

The woman who had called herself Nereth was considering him, she had at first thought he was some kind of "God-blooded" mortal, one of a god to do with swords. Shirou had quickly assured her that he was not the son of a god, he didn't go into details about the fire though. Shirou was still curious about the dragon-blooded, Humans with powers from great elemental dragons, it sounded very strange. A group of people ruling over people by birth right alone, normally it would be something like a king and his family which would make sense but apparently any normal person who randomly became a dragon-blooded got adopted into the family and if a family member failed to become one then they were all but ignored.

"How on creation did you learn your power" Nereth asked suddenly, Shirou thought for a moment and replied "It is a long story that touches a few personal details I don't want to explain". Yes, he didn't want to explain about His father, Unlimited blade works, Avalon, Heaven's Feel or Archer. From an earlier discussion he knew that mages in this world didn't have magic circuits, they somehow stored Mana in their soul which they would use to cast their Magic. He was fairly sure that their style of magic was incompatible with his own.

The topic of the conversation then changed. Nereth wanted to know if Shirou had any plans going forward, as he didn't really know a way home Shirou replied that he didn't.

"Excellent, you will then travel with me" Nereth cheerfully decided. Shirou was surprised, she was assuming that he would just go along with her? But then what else was he going to do, set out on his own when he didn't know any of this world's languages? It was really the only choice he could take for the moment.

As he was about to ask about learning one of the local languages he was cut off be Nereth continuing "We'll have to teach you High realm of course, can't be using my focus all the time". Shirou looked at her and slowly nodded in consent, he would be trapped with her for a while but he could start learning things about this world from her which might give him a clue of how to get home.

* * *

The carriage continued on, taking the two of them further east. Nereth considered her new travelling companion, if she could get him to tell her how he can create artefacts so quickly and easily that would be a great treasure to bring home. He had shown her a few things he could create, A pair of short swords he said would arc back to him if he threw them, a spear that he said could reverse cause and effect and a massive stone club that he said could be used to strike 9 times in less than 3 seconds. All of those would be incredibly powerful artefacts. Maybe he stored them elsewhere and his magic was to call them to him in times of need, that was Nereth's theory. It would mean that she could get him to give them too her.

If only she had learned more overt social charms. her social charms were learned to make her better at parties, not to convince someone to give up the equivalent to a vault of artefacts. Nereth focused, while she taught the boy high realm she would try and make him love her, that might work to get him to part with his artefacts. She would likely need more charms though. She had time, as she travelled with him she would learn the charms and then get his artefacts. It would be easy, she was a descendent of the empress and he was just a mortal.

* * *

In the heavenly city of Yu-shan, within the glorious Bureau of destiny, a man watched the grand loom of fate. The loom of fate was a tool that allowed the Bureau to see that fate occurred as required, fate was written in it's strands and that fate could be altered to fit the Bureau's designs. The man was studying a strand of the loom, he knew something was wrong with this strand. The strand detailed a fight between a dragon-blood and her retinue vs a bandit gang. the odd thing was that the while the weave did show the same result as expected (The dragon blood wins and the bandit leader died), something was wrong. The bandit leader didn't die by the dragon-blood's hands and yet he still died. the fate was written for the dragon-blooded to have killed him, that would have made the bandit leader's son feel anger towards that exalt and sort revenge. What could have caused this strangeness?

* * *

 **And thus ends the first true chapter**

up until this point it has been only prologue, this is the first step of the actual adventure

as I have said on previous chapters there is a forum, coming up we have some travelling times and I have set up a place to suggest things to happen during the short time they are travelling (maybe two weeks)

you can find the new post here: topic/216243/174037965/1/Travelling-tales

Thanks to my readers, I hope that by the time I finish this story it isn't just a pile of mistakes.


	6. Mini chapter 1, Travelling tales

Travelling tales

* * *

[Placeholder]

* * *

Will put mini stories here when I get them

For now there is nothing


	7. Chapter 2

Fate's Weave

* * *

A storm was coming, Shirou had a feeling to that effect. Things just felt off somehow.

* * *

It was a few weeks after his journey with Nereth had begun, in that time she had taught him how to speak a language called "High realm". The language felt odd to him, He had never seriously tried to learn a new language before (He had planned to learn English for when he went to the Clock tower but he never got around to it) and he wasn't used to the language yet, it still took him a few seconds to understand what anyone was saying.

Nereth was happy anyway, now she didn't need to perform that charm every week to understand what he was saying. She was also happy as Shirou was beginning to open up to her.

Earlier he had told her a little about his life, how his father had taught him the magecraft and how his friends and allies had helped him improve. Still using vague language but at this rate Nereth was confident that she would learn the secret to his magic within a few months.

* * *

In the heavenly city of Yu-shan, within the glorious Bureau of destiny, a woman was observing the Loom of fate, she had gotten a report of a mysterious thread. Something not a part of fate had been woven in. This new thread appeared to be a boy that was travelling with a dragon-blood.

This boy was mysterious, any mortal should have always been a part of the loom, as this boy had just appeared he must not be from creation originally. That meant he could be a spy of some sorts, either from the underworld, Malfeas or the Wyld. This would need an investigation done.

She knew just the Sidereal.

* * *

Cloaked Blessing was a sidereal, a guardian of the Loom of fate, she was also a member of the committees for the Wyld and for Malfeas, she was also bored out of her mind. When she had become a sidereal a few years ago she thought she would be doing much more than waiting at home and occasionally arguing points that should be obvious at meetings.

Her home was nice of course, it was a celestial manse that had belonged to her previous incarnation. It had been left to her thanks to some friends from her previous incarnation. The manse itself simply looked like a townhouse made of white jade, it wasn't of course but it's appearance called white jade to mind. It was a Sidereal manse that had strange effects with fate and she could occasionally see a pattern spider hanging around in her attic.

Cloaked Blessing heard a knock on her front door and she rushed down to answer, finally something to do. When she opened the door she found one of her friends, Marbell, A master of astrology.

"Hey Chloe, I've found something interesting, may I come in?" Marbell spoke, already walking into the house.

Cloaked Blessing walked with her into her house's sitting room and they both sat, Marbell crossing her legs as she takes a posture to lecture Cloaked blessing about the Loom.

Marbell explained about the mysterious boy and her suspicion that he was a spy from outside of creation, Cloaked Blessing nodded along to what she was saying. Cloaked Blessing understood that Marbell probably came to her because she was experienced about both demons and the Wyld so she might offer the best help.

The issue was that neither of them could officially start this investigation, Marbell came up with the idea that Cloaked blessing could do some investigation using her vacation time and she could organise the investigation using evidence that she collected during that time.

A few minutes of planning later Cloaked Blessing and Marbell began preparing the things they would need. The first needed would be a destiny for Cloaked to wear, The two decided to create one of the gull, a simple traveller. able to easily become part of the travelling party of the boy. The two created the destiny together and then gathered all other required equipment that Cloaked Blessing would be using.

* * *

Around a day and a half later Cloaked Blessing (now wearing the Destiny of Chloe the traveller and having handed in her vacation papers) left through a gate into creation. She pulled out the simple map that had been made for her (Low quality enough to pass for something a poor traveller might have), she began walking down the road in the direction that she knew the travelling party was coming through.

She walked for a few hours before seeing them ahead of her, they were setting up a camp for the night.

"Who goes there" said a guard who was watching for attacks.

"I am merely a traveller, seeking safety with others" a practised answer, few see a poor lone traveller and think there might be something wrong.

The guard scratched his head and continued "If you want to camp with us you are going to need to ask the Lady Tepet", Cloaked Blessing had been waiting for this and shakily (an act to look tired) walked to the carriage.

Nereth Tepet was as the file on her had described but what was more important was that she could see the boy, clearly he was valued highly by Nereth if she let him ride with her in her carriage. Just another thing to note down, from here on anything could be evidence to support a full investigation.

Cloaked Blessing trusted to another destiny of hers, The romantic Clair, which she had no more need for apart from the occasional boost to her social abilities to allow her to safely ask to travel with the group, Nereth agreed and Cloaked travelled to the edge of the group to sleep.

* * *

Shirou was up late into the night considering the woman. While she looked like what she described, a simple traveller, something felt off to him, not enough to pinpoint but something.

Nereth seemed to trust her so Shirou thought that she was probably safe, He believed Nereth was better at judging people than he was after all.

Shirou looked to the stars, he had been told about how they could show the future by Nereth. Nereth didn't know how to do it but she had seen it done, Horoscopes worked here. He wondered if his future was written in the stars too.

* * *

And thus ends the chapter

introducing a new character Cloaked blessing, Sidereal of serenity (Though it might be rare to see her use those abilities, she would likely fit better in secrets)

I want to ask readers, when I write using an impartial position should I refer to her as Cloaked Blessing or as Chloe? It's up to you

In other news Shirou has gained Linguistics 1 and has learned High realm. Shirou is also now part of fate.


	8. Chapter 3

first things first because I forgot to do it previously:  
I do not own Exalted or the Fate series

 **Duty**

* * *

The surrounding countryside was getting flatter. The carriage slowly moved through the countryside to their next destination, a small village they intended to get some supplies from. It had been about a month since Shirou arrived in this new world and he was hoping the travelling wouldn't go on for too much longer.

Shirou looked out over the land, he thought back to those he cares for, hoping that they weren't doing anything stupid to find him.

Nereth was looking at him, a curious look in her eyes. She had been trying to learn more about his home, that was what had made him think about Rin and Sakura. He considered Nereth, while she didn't seem evil she definitely wasn't a good person. She apparently didn't have much care for 'Mortals', she saw them as beneath her normally. She also seemed to be trying very hard to get info from him that he didn't particularly want to give to her or anyone from this world.

A voice of surprise came from the driver of the carriage, apparently he had seen something, the village they were looking for perhaps?

* * *

Nereth left the carriage to speak to the driver, Shirou was a tough nut to crack and she was glad of the distraction the driver offered.

As she came up besides the driver he offered her his telescope, with it she looked in the direction he pointed. At first she saw nothing but strange piles of what appeared to be hay, only after a moment did she realise her error, those were not piles of hay, they were thatching from roofs of village buildings. The village they were going to was somehow troubled.

She gave the sign to go ahead on the intended path and got back inside the carriage.

* * *

As Nereth ducked back into the carriage Shirou looked up, "What was it" he calmly asked in high realm. He was getting more used to the language but it still wasn't as fluent as he wanted to be, he still need a few seconds to understand Nereth's response "Something is strange with the village, we are heading in to see what it is."

* * *

Cloaked Blessing, now going by the name Chloe, was watching the proceedings while deep in thought. She had been with the Carriage for about a week now and the boy, Shirou had not displayed any strange abilities. She had asked around and those working for the Nereth claimed they saw him wield magic weapons, he had not shown this ability since she arrived likely because there was no need to use it.

The carriage travelled towards the village, Chloe and the other helpers walking besides it.

* * *

When they arrived at the village it was wrecked, Shirou saw the strange damage in the earth. It was like if a massive earthquake had occurred but only effecting buildings. The ground was ripped up, some parts jutting up while most houses had been dropped into holes. The strange thing was that most houses were intact, some stone houses had completely fallen apart but the wooden houses were mostly okay, a few were damaged but a large majority of the standing buildings were made of wood.

Nereth left the carriage to speak with the town folk and most others left to try and buy supplies from the villagers. Shirou looked over the town, in his mind he asked the question "How many people have gotten hurt".

He knew about there being gods in this world, normally with a natural disaster you couldn't say that someone committed a crime, who would you accuse, Gaia?

If a god had committed murder that god would be a villain he could stop. From what he learned about the gods of this world they were not all knowing or all powerful and dragon-blooded could fight them. From this he came upon a thought, he could probably fight a god.

Likely a stupid thought but without trying it how would he ever know, he wanted to protect people. Sakura had convinced him not to make it the goal of his life but that didn't stop him wanting to save people in trouble.

* * *

Nereth returned from her conversations with the leaders of the village. Apparently they had a mine beneath the ground of their village, it mostly pulled up iron and coal but occasionally they pulled up green jade. Green jade was a rare material apparently, it was magical in nature, Shirou wondered if he could add a weapon made of it to his reality marble. The village had traded it's resources to get money to improve the village but as the work started, the god of the mine became greedy. It demanded silver and jade for it's services. It had also claimed all the jade within the mine as it's own so the villagers would be forced to import jade to please the god.

The problem was the village was poor they couldn't afford silver or jade in the amounts the god wanted. The only way they thought to make that money was to work the mine, maybe they could work in secret. When the god found this out he was very angry, he collapsed the stone that the villagers built some buildings out of and collapsed some mine shafts to damage the village's structure

* * *

Shirou was angry. A god demanded worship and didn't take into account if the villagers could actually fulfil it.

Nereth turned to walk back to the carriage, she said that they could just call the Immaculate order to deal with it. Shirou turned back to the village leaders, luckily one of them spoke high realm, Shirou asked them to point towards the entrance to the mines, he would go in alone if he had to.

A quick set of directions later he ran off, Chloe watched him go. She considered what to do and came to the decision to follow him, she might be able to see his abilities in action. Of course it would be impossible for him to win, no matter what abilities he had the god of the mine would win. She would follow along to watch him, get a record of the god to send in (more starmetal was never bad, she might have something crafted with it) and keep the boy alive.

Nereth reached the carriage and noticed Shirou's absence, she cursed him under her breath and ran back. She wasn't going to leave her research subject to die.

* * *

and thus ends the chapter

this is mostly just a prelude chapter to the first main battle I am going to throw at Shirou

As a note: I don't think there is anything within UBW that could hit a demat god. Do tell me if I made a mistake in that.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter, nothing much happened in it and I am sorry about that.

I think after each major story arc I might create something like a collection that holds all the chapters of that arc to make for easier reading, what do you think?


	9. Chapter 4

Fallibility

* * *

The entrance to the mine was where the people had said it was. It appeared to be damaged, The entrance looked unstable and the wooden support beams looked near breaking point. Nevertheless Shirou entered the mines, the god inside had to be stopped and since no-one else seemed ready to do it he would have to.

Shirou focused and traced a small dagger, as far as he knew this dagger had no name and was from no legend but it still cast light in the darkness and it was easier on him than trying to trace, for example, the sword of the planet's light. He was fairly confident that if he tried that projection it would destroy him, even with the increased mana in this world.

Inside the mine was as just as unstable as the outside, more than once Shirou had to dodge out of the way of falling rocks or jump away from a collapsing floor. Every time Shirou was forced to get out the way he remembered that he would have to conserve his strength for the fight to come. It reminded him of the time he had to go to the cavern of the greater grail after Sakura had been consumed by the darkness that lived within the grail. That time the cavern hadn't been close to collapse but the danger was just as real

From what Shirou knew about this world from his discussions with Nereth and Chloe (who had been surprisingly knowledgeable about such things), the gods could take on many forms including simply "Not being there". If that was true then he might have trouble, with most enemies he has fought they have not simply disappeared in the middle of a fight.

* * *

Deep inside the mine Shirou started to see raw materials, apparently the mining hadn't finished this deep. The walls sparkled with iron and silver, it felt a bit strange to him that they look so pure while still in the rock. The materials looked as if they had already been purified as they glinted in the light cast by the dagger.

As he considered the strangeness of it he found a wider chamber, he looked in awe at the walls, in them were hundreds of small crystal-like growths, all coloured a deep green. Perhaps this was the green jade that the mine was able to collect?

The jade sparkled in the light cast by his dagger, it looked more like metal than a gemstone.

Shirou stepped towards a crystal when a boulder on the floor flew towards his head, Shirou sidestepped and looked around.

A voice came from the ground itself "Puny mortal, I don't know why you came here but this mine shall be your grave. Maybe then the villagers will follow the demands of their betters".

* * *

Cloaked blessing walked down the tunnels, She hoped that she wouldn't be too late. In her hand was her gem of starlight, a small hearthstone that could light her surroundings, she was using her hearthstone to see in these tunnels.

Ahead of her, in the darkness round a corner she heard a rumble. She had heard many like it after entering this mine but this one was louder and longer than others, The god of this mine was likely about to try and bring part of the mine down.

This god seemed so self destructive, he destroyed the mine that was his domain and stopped the mortals from working it. It was as if he couldn't care less about the domain that heaven had allowed him to possess.

As she crept ahead she heard a voice calling out, the god and Shirou were likely about to begin fighting. She hurried towards an opening into a cavern of jade and her eyes opened wide

* * *

Shirou as always was at a disadvantage, he fought a god he couldn't see. The first thing to do would be finding where the god was hiding, before that he would have to dodge the god trying to pull parts of the ceiling down on top of him and throwing boulders bigger than his chest at him.

He would need a miracle to hit this foe and he knew exactly the weapon to use, hopefully it wouldn't destroy him to use it.

"Trace... On!"

* * *

Cloaked blessing watched as the sword appeared in his hands. It was an ornate sword, the blade itself looked incredibly sharp, and at it's base were written words in a script she didn't know. The sword's cross-guard was black with what appeared to be gold used in detail work. The hilt was wrapped in what seems to be leather dyed black and the pommel of the sword looked something like a cage with a clear crystal inside of it.

This was clearly a powerful sword, If this was truly and artefact then the boy had more power than a mortal should. The simplest explanation would be if the blades were somehow stored elsewhere and the boy were able to call them to hand. The issue was that was still outside the realms of mortals to use a charm of that level of power, previously she had only heard of exalted with charms like that.

She continued to watch the boy as he sagged, the sword must have taken a lot of energy to create. She saw another boulder fly at the boy but he lifted the sword he had created and the sword cut the boulder in two as if the boulder had simply been water.

She was right to think the blade was sharp. It clearly held great power.

The boy turned in a circle as if searching the room and then cried out something in his strange native language.

* * *

"Durandal, grant me the ability to see the unseen!" Shirou cried out, unleashing the true name of the blade in his hands. again he felt a large amount of mana leave him. Durandal was a very powerful noble phantasms, blessed with incredible sharpness and the ability to grant 3 miracles.

As he had wished the blade glowed and granted the miracle that had been asked of it. the blade began to cast a strange red light throughout the room turning the jade black.

Suddenly he saw what he was looking for, in the middle of the red light behind him there was a patch of white. He knew instinctively that this was the god he came to fight.

The god "Stepped" back in surprise at being spotted and yelled out "What are you mortal, you do not bear the right to see me" he then continued, the pride in his voice growing with each word "Even if you can see me you are still dead, It is impossible for you to touch one such as me"

Shirou considered and carefully chose a weapon that could cause this prideful god pain that would last.

"Trace... on!"

* * *

Again Cloaked blessing watched the boy's other hand, the hand he had been carrying his glowing dagger in, as it glowed and a new weapon appeared there.

It was another dagger but the shape of this one was strange, the hilt was incredibly ornate and the blade of the dagger was snaking like a bolt of lightning, it looked more like a tool than a weapon. Once the weapon was solid in the boy's hand he ran towards the god yelling something in his language.

* * *

"Durandal, allow my next attack to wound my foe!" A yell and Shirou drove the dagger towards his foe, as he did he cried "Rule Breaker!". The dagger plunged towards the shape in white, the blade caught something and cut through.

The magic that made up the god's being was being dispelled, veins of red now filled the while from where he struck. The weapon he held could dispel any and all magic, he had considered whether it could be used to badly hurt a god and he was right, the "bleeding" in the cloud of white proved such.

The cloud shook in anger "You pathetic mortal, you are nothing, I myself will ensure that your death is slow and painful" as it spoke it flowed through the wall behind it.

Shirou was forced to run after it in the tunnels getting quickly lost, Luckily the glow of Durandal was still there and it pointed him towards where the god had run.

* * *

In the mine's deepest point was another opening, as soon as he stepped in the entrance behind him fell, trapping him inside an ornate chamber.

In the chamber's centre was what appeared to be a small shrine, from it ropes hung to the four corners of the room, the walls had carvings and in the back of the room were piles of rare materials from silver to gold to jade (both in white and green).

The god's voice spoke again "Mortal you enter my domain in such a way, you have sealed your doom!" Shirou recognised that the god had threatened him many times with death and he was still alive. The threat thus did not really scare him at all.

As Shirou charged forwards to destroy the shrine which he could see was where the god was hiding, the god created a wall of stone around the shrine to protect himself. Shirou would need something to break the rock, as he reached within himself to search for a weapon to do that with he felt his fatigue.

Not long after his next projection he would fall unconscious.

* * *

Cloaked blessing reached the cavern that the boy was trapped in, she looked through a crack in the rocks and recognised the signs of fatigue in the boy, he had likely close to exhausted his essence pools.

The boy was likely to die if he tried anything with too much power now.

As she thought that she saw the boy's hands glow, he was going to try creating something else.

* * *

Shirou thought it was about time for something stupidly risky, if he performed a low power projection with this weapon it should be able to blast away the rock walls and maybe even the shrine. However no matter how low power he used he was likely to catch himself in the explosion.

Yet he considered it worth the risk, the weapon would be projected at 7%.

He began to trace.

* * *

Cloaked blessing watched as the new weapon was formed, it was a sword with a spiral blade. It was thin as if meant to be used as an arrow yet it still had a cross-guard (it was twisted too). she could feel power from this weapon, it was as if it was made out of high quality fire dust. If that was used as a weapon it would cause a lot of damage.

Cloaked blessing took a few steps back.

* * *

"Caladbolg II!" Cried Shirou as he threw the weapon. It struck the wall as he jumped away from it.

The explosion was large, creating an opening right in the stone but not damaging the shrine at all, as Shirou rose to use Durandal he felt the last of his power leave him, he was empty.

* * *

The explosion was easily heard outside the chamber, it even blasted away the blocks of stone on the entrance.

Cloaked blessing took the opportunity and entered the room and looked at the shrine of the god.

"Do you want too be turned into starmetal?" a simple question was asked and if the god had any sense he would understand the threat in those words. The boy was collapsed on the ground, clearly spent. She picked him up, not easy with her strength, and began to carry him to safety.

As she did so she spoke clearly "Yu-shan will hear about what you have done here, you are not going to be able to prevent the townspeople from using the mine. If those judging you are merciful you may get to live." as she spoke she heard the cave rumble

The god was going to try and kill her to keep her quiet, and if she fought it off then the boy would die in the fighting.

She grabbed the ornate sword the boy still held. She did not know it's functions but if she could power it and wake the boy he might be able to get them out of here.

* * *

Shirou felt the Durandal grow warmer, it had one more miracle to grant and it had the power to do so.

"Durandal..." Croaked Shirou "Get us to the surface"

* * *

And thus ends the chapter.

In the original draft for this fight Shirou was much more defensive in the fight but I feel it was fairly good with a rewrite.

If you are wondering what the point of the fight even was I wanted to point out the fact that Shirou, while having broken abilities in his own world still doesn't have an answer to most things in the world of creation.

You may also wonder why the god was dematerialised for the entire fight, that I can sum up as I believe that Shirou would have likely won that sort of fight, he has a lot of weapons which would have been disastrous to a god that he could get a clean hit against.

As normal thank you to everyone who enjoys my story and please offer suggestions if you have any


	10. Chapter 5

Recovery

* * *

It was a few hours later when Shirou awoke, He was in a soft bed in a house that looked unstable.

He was in one of the still standing houses from the town they had come to. It seemed like he was brought back somehow, he had hazy memories of Chloe and Nereth helping him just after he got out but apart from that nothing.

He felt a throbbing pain from his arm where he had got scraped during the battle, he turned to it and saw something strange; Metal fibres loosely inside his arm, holding back blood from the wound.

He had seen these before, but it should be impossible for them to be here right now. This looked like the healing of a noble phantasm he had once possessed but it shouldn't work without the mana from it's true owner. "Avalon: The Everdistant Utopia" the sheath of Excalibur, It gave healing abilities to someone who had it but it should only function for someone with access to the mana of king Arthur.

As he thought about what could of healed him, Nereth entered the room.

* * *

Once again Nereth was confused about Shirou, when she and Chloe had tried to heal him the wound started glowing softly.

The wound wasn't deep but she could see that magic was going on, the wound glowed then was covered in these thin strings of metal, covering and protecting the wound.

She would need to examine more wounds to see how this worked, not that she would cut him now of course. Maybe in the future she could "convince" him to help her discover the secret to his healing

She entered the room that he was staying in to see how he was doing and she saw that he had awoke. He was looking towards her and she saw the wound was glowing more softly and most of the metal threads had vanished.

* * *

Nereth sat down on a chair near Shirou's bed, she was looking at him as if examining a creature to see if it was dangerous.

"You fought a god" she said as if it were the most normal thing possible at that moment, Shirou simply nodded. Nereth continued "From what Chloe said you even came close to beating said god" it seemed that with each word she spoke a hint of curiosity and a little bit of suspicion entered her voice. "In most ways even dragon-blooded can't beat a god if it goes into hiding and only the most well trained immaculate martial artists can even hit gods", from her voice Shirou could hear the question that she wanted to ask, she wanted to ask how he had done it, how he a (from her point of view) normal human had come close to defeating a god.

"My magecraft offers a few useful options" replied Shirou, hoping that she wouldn't dig to much into it. To explain his battle properly it would require explaining a bit about Unlimited Blade Works, something that he still didn't want to do.

Nereth looked unsatisfied but instead of voicing her complaint she asked something else "Are you going to try that again?", Shirou could hear a note of sarcasm in her tone. Shirou considered the question, he had likely dissuaded the god from trying to attack the village any more but he didn't want to leave the village without help. He knew though that he couldn't offer any help himself. He had fought to his limit and had still fallen.

* * *

Nereth waited until Shirou was about to speak before containing what she was planning to say, when Shirou opened his mouth Nereth cut in "You should stay with my travelling party". Silently and carefully Nereth activated the charm she had learned while travelling, A simple thing that enhanced her manipulation. She then continued talking, making sure Shirou knew that it was the right thing to come with her.

After about a minute or two of impassioned speaking she stopped, Shirou was slowly nodding his head.

* * *

Shirou listened to Nereth, what she said made sense. He could join her and she would pass a message to those who can help this town better. He felt something was off however, the distinct feeling of being tricked into something hung in the air but he didn't worry about it.

* * *

Chloe sat by the window, listening to what was going on inside. She could hear the speech that had just been made and she knew what it meant, Nereth had convinced Shirou to come with them. Terrestrial exalts could be amazing speakers and charms could further increase it. While all exalted could do amazing at anything depending on what skills they learned you could always hear that something with a Terrestrial, they were not the best but with how little most of them knew they still continued on at full pace.

* * *

Shirou sat in the carriage as normal waiting to leave, Nereth was helping organise the followers in carrying supplies so she wasn't here yet. Chloe wandered over to his window and looked inside as if wanting to ask something. "In that cave, how did you damage that god" A simple question with a complex answer. Shirou considered what answer to give before simply shrugging and giving his normal answer, "It is simply something I can do.". As he had guessed she was unsatisfied with that answer but as it looked like she was about to ask for more details Nereth returned and seeing that Chloe wandered off inconspicuously.

The party began moving, the carriage and all followers began travelling further east. According to Nereth the journey would not be too much longer.

* * *

End of chapter

This chapter has quite a few changes from the original draft simply because the previous chapter ended better than I had guessed

Something funny that should be noted: Nereth has 0 in her medicine so when she said she helped Chloe she basically just sat back and let Chloe do it.

For how Avalon was activated for a short time, I have no solid idea but it was possibly just Dragon-blood mana that activated it, I will change this if someone has a better idea.

The charm Nereth uses against Shirou is a presence excellency if you couldn't guess, the attack following it used manipulation


	11. Chapter 6

Swords

* * *

Shirou looked out of the carriage window to see the fields around the carriage, Nereth had told him that they were approaching their destination; A city far in the east were supposedly there was a dig site containing first age artefacts.

Shirou was not excited about the dig but he was looking forward to stopping finally, they had been on the road for maybe a month and a half in total since his arrival in creation.

He could see ahead of them the city's walls and beyond that a near wall of trees, all the nature here looked incredibly healthy.

Nereth looked over at him smiling softly, "The life here is boosted by the elemental pole of wood" she gestured towards the wall of trees as if the pole were beyond there, "It also is the cause of all these trees".

Nereth spoke again as they were approaching the gates "For the next few days we will stay in a mansion that my family owns out here, I trust you to behave yourself".

Shirou nodded simply and the carriage passed through the city gates.

* * *

About half an hour later the carriage had pulled up to the mansion in question. It was constructed, seemingly, out of still living trees.

The party started splitting up, Chloe and the other servants heading to their quarters while Shirou and Nereth entered the mansion proper. The interior of the mansion was odd in relation to the exterior, where the outside looked made of wood alone the interior looked like any normal mansion, it was a bit strange.

The expression on his face was caught by Nereth who answered his unasked question "This mansion was build by a family member who was wood aspect, they grew the exterior themselves. Only later did the rest of us have the house furnished properly" She looks away quickly and mutters about fireproofing.

She and him entered a sitting room to relax and talk a bit.

* * *

Nereth was understandably annoyed, a month and a half and he hadn't given away much about his powers or even his home. While she wasn't the best at prying secrets, she should have got something notable by now.

While having a "friendly" chat with Shirou she tried to pull a bit more but nothing would work well. During the journey he had admitted his father had started teaching him magic, "Magecraft" as he called it, but after that she hadn't got anything.

It wasn't as if she disliked Shirou, he tried his best and she was impressed by his battle with the god of the mine. He seemed to be the type that had nothing to do so she was surprised how hard it was to convince him to stay with her, he really was determined to go home, wherever that was.

She looked out the window as the sun began to set, contemplating how to get Shirou to tell her his secrets.

Suddenly there was a bang as the door slammed open and a young man strode into the sitting room, it only took her a few seconds to recognise her half brother Rai. She hadn't know he was this close.

Nereth had known Rai for all her life, he was a few years older than her and they had mostly grown up together until adulthood. After that they had gone their separate ways, archaeology in her case and the army in his. He was a very hot-blooded guy but they still sent each other letters and still thought of each other as family.

Of course that was a dragon-blooded family where plotting to have your mother assassinated is par for the course.

She watched Rai look around the room before settling on Shirou sitting down across from her. "Sister, why do you treat a simple mortal with such luxury" Rai's question was the one she had expected so she had an answer ready "He displays unusual abilities and I want to study him". Rai looked a little surprised before his rebuttal came, "Then treat him as a lab specimen not an honoured guest".

Nereth considers him over steeped fingers, "I think he is more important than a simple specimen, his powers might be very special". "Powers?" mocks Rai, "What powers could a mortal possess". "Power's invaluable for the coming times of battle" spoke Nereth, thinking of an army equipped with weapons Shirou can summon.

"Battle?" spoke Rai quietly "No mortal could ever best us in battle!"

Shirou looked a bit sick, was it fear or simply an unpleasant memory that had occurred to him, Nereth didn't know. Surprising everyone in the room Shirou took this moment to speak up "I am no specimen to toy with", he had been listening to the conversation insult him, Nereth wondered why he hadn't spoken earlier.

Rai looked angered by his sudden denial "If you are 'no specimen' then I don't see where you see yourself able to talk back to me mortal" Rai drew out his red jade Reaper Daiklave, "the burning sabre" with a look of anger on his face.

With a quick slash that looked made to decapitate Shirou, Rai's blade cut the air and only air, Shirou had dodged out the way. Rai didn't seem to notice the twin short swords, one white, one black, that had appeared in Shirou's hands. Her half brother looked like his rage was building to an explosion.

Nereth's next action was then the simple one she could take to avoid burning down the mansion, "Brother dear, if you want to kill my associate that much why not challenge him to a duel?", She hoped this question would not further antagonise him to Shirou, this question should make him split some of his anger to herself. She got the reaction she expected "Me, a prince of the earth, challenge a puny mortal to a duel? Sister have you lost your mind?" Rai asked incredulous. Nereth continued simply "You want to kill and underling of mine, I offer a duel between us, just with Shirou here as my champion" While it was ignoring part of the rules of duels she would not readily admit that.

Rai looked more incredulous than before, the room was silent a few seconds before Rai asked softly "Are you sure sister, I will obviously win and with him as your champion you would lose honour", Nereth smiled, and nodded her head

* * *

As Shirou was led by a servant to his rooms he was slightly annoyed, Nereth's manipulation of her brother was excellent of course but why force him into the duel tomorrow. Well he duelled for her honour and his life, she clearly had faith in him.

Shirou lay on his bed contemplating the battle to come and picturing the new weapon he could project, that curved red sword he had seen the man carry.

* * *

End of chapter

Another battle is coming next chapter obviously

Just a quick question that may be important later.

for those who know Fate, exactly how much effect does an Origin have on the personality of it's possessor, I haven't seen enough examples from those who know their origin to gauge yet

for those who know Exalted, which beings in creation can somehow read minds (and more specifically memory) , who has the charms/ what is the sorcery. I think the Rakshsa may have a charm but other than that I don't know


	12. Chapter 7

The duel

* * *

The three of them, Nereth, Rai and Shirou stood in the garden outside the mansion. All three of them stood still, watching the others.

Nereth cleared her throat before she began to explain the rules "For this duel between Rai Tepet and Shirou, I will act as the arbiter. This duel is not necessarily to the death, This duel ends with the surrender of a participant or my declaration that a winner had been decisively chosen, there is no limit on charms used." With this she looked at the two young men before her and spoke the words that would start the duel, "Draw weapons!".

Rai calmly drew his Daiklave, "Burning Sabre", and held it out in a simple stance. Shirou looked at the weapon appraisingly before drawing his weapon that he had created earlier to act as his main weapon during this duel, it had what looked like it was made of a purple metal with a slightly more red metal that looked like a decoration but she wasn't sure. The sword looked sharp and it was an ornate weapon so Nereth had no doubts it was magical in some way. He hadn't chosen his twin swords, which seemed strange to Nereth as he had once told her that they were the weapons he had most experience with.

The two men prepared themselves, waiting for the final signal to be called. Nereth looked at the two of them, wondering to herself for a moment why she believed Shirou could beat her half-brother. She thought back to when he had tried to fight the god of the mine, when he returned alive she was shocked but he did fight and that proved something, he believed it wasn't impossible. Just like then, Shirou would fight against a foe which by common sense would kill him quickly. Something told Nereth that he would win and she would trust in that.

Nereth raised her hand. She considered the gamble she was making, did she have more faith in Shirou than she did in her half-brother? Yes. She had faith in him.

She dropped her hand "Go!".

* * *

Rai knew he would win before the fight started, no mortal could beat him. He decided to start simply and began to charge forward, ready to cut the boy into two pieces. He knew that this attack would kill, he was an expert swordsman.

His sword flashed into flame as it roared towards the boy, the fool. Rai knew that he needed no charms to Kill him. The boy raised his sword to block the attack but Rai knocked the blade out of the way and prepared to deal the lethal blow, the boy had put his effort into parrying instead of dodging, he was now unable to get out of the way and was about to be killed. Rai hoped he had realised his mistake.

Suddenly the boy raised his hand and muttered something under his breath, a red light emanating from his raised hand, Rai's sword struck the light and he heard a loud crash from the shield, the light had deflected his blow enough to save the boy. The shield of light didn't even look damaged.

The boy dropped his hand back to the sword that had been knocked away, he pulled it back to a normal stance and dropped low as if going to cut at his stomach. Rai shifted his blade to intercept the attack, the boy's sword striking and rebounding from his guard.

Rai still rejected the possibility of the boy fighting him on even terms but his experience from battles in the past taught him that the boy was still stronger than he was giving him credit for. Rai thus prepared to use a charm to finish the fight quickly.

The red sword was raised to kill the boy with a strike a god would be proud of, The first melee excellency would see that this attack wouldn't fail the same way the first attack did. The sword swung down, the magic enhancing his sword skills to land a lethal attack, Shirou again began to parry but before he had gotten into stance he threw himself out of the way, not far enough. The sword came down leaving a large gash on Shirou's leg.

Rai was surprised that the attack had failed to kill but in that moment of shock Shirou Struck again with his sword, attempting a sequence of strikes while his foe was vulnerable, The first attack missed as Shirou's leg buckled just before the attack landed. However the second attack struck flesh.

Rai cried out in pain, the weapon was not just sharp, it tore at his draconic essence, ripping it away from him. The small laceration from Shirou's sword was leaking essence in the form of flames. The weapon was clearly magical in nature.

Shirou leaped back after cutting Rai, he stood back and looked at the wound he had cut as if expecting more.

A furious cry emerged from Rai as he charged Shirou, two-handing his sword as if intending to cut Shirou from head to groin. Shirou knew he was vulnerable right now so he reacted quickly, sheathing his sword and projecting his shield to block Rai's oncoming strike, he knew that if this kept up he would run out of mana quickly.

He needed to end this now.

He projected the weapon he would need, cheap enough to project in his weakened state and strong enough to end this fight in a single attack.

Nereth saw the weapon appear, a spear made out of a red metal. Again Shirou leaped back and held the spear in a strange stance. Shirou was focusing his mind on what he had to do, he saw his enemy and cried the name of his weapon-

"Gáe Bolg!"

The moment it was cried Shirou leaped, forward this time, and stabbed forth with his weapon while pouring as much mana as he could into the spear.

Rai saw the attack coming and prepared to simply parry the blow, he wasn't able to completely parry it and it cut into his side, much less painfully than the last attack however. Just as Rai was about to counterattack he felt something strange and looked down, the boy's spear now struck through his chest, right next to his heart.

"How did you?" as he began to croak that Nereth spoke up from her position watching the battle "I declare this fight over, a clearly lethal blow has been struck", Rai looked to her in shock, did she not know that he could keep fighting. He then realised the reason she had called a halt. He was fighting a mortal who would have been killed by an attack like this. As he thought this he slipped into unconsciousness from blood loss.

Shirou looked down at the man bleeding on the floor, his thoughts rushing through his head.

* * *

And thus ends the battle

The first sword Shirou used was Arondight, an anti-dragon weapon, thus it would weaken the draconic powers that dragon-blooded use. This is a new version of the chapter, in the original chapter he used Gram instead but I was told how cursed that weapon was so I replaced it with another weapon that was Anti-dragon.

Shirou's shield was Rho Aias obviously, Rai couldn't break it, In the notes I had it do some damage but upon revision it really should not have damaged it.

Next week is an intermission where we see what Rin and Sakura have been doing in Shirou's absence, mostly looking for a way to find him. I have many ideas already but if you have anything you want me to touch on I would be happy to hear your advice.


	13. Interlude 1

Kaleidoscope Review

* * *

Rin Tosaka was not happy, neither was her sister Sakura. It had been a couple of hours since the destruction of the Tohsaka mansion and the two of them had taken the time scavenging as much magical equipment from the ruins and taking it to the Matou residence.

Ever since the end of the grail war Sakura was really the only person who lived their anymore and it held her workshop so they decided to keep the Tohsaka's equipment there for the time being.

Dawn was coming soon, neither had gotten any sleep the last night so they were both very tired. Sakura flopped onto her bed and Rin (not wanting to wander the Matou house and risk setting off traps) sat in a chair in Sakura's room and began to doze.

Outside the window where the two sisters slept the sun rose to mid-morning before anything happened. The thing that happened was Rin got a phone call, She slowly woke up causing the phone to stop ringing while she did. She was awake but still very tired so when the phone rang again she answered groggily.

It was her old teacher and a house guest of Shirou, Taiga Fujimura. Rin stepped out of Sakura's room as she expected that the call might wake her up too. Taiga was calling to find out where Shirou was as he had told her that he was going to see Rin the previous day. Rin decided that a incomplete truth would work best here "He left my house and didn't say where he was going next", Taiga was silent for a moment and muttered aloud about contacting the police to find him as he was a missing person. Rin knew however that the only think that would come of that investigation would be the police coming to the Tohsaka mansion and possibly finding some magical equipment she had missed.

Rin quickly explained to Taiga that you need to wait 72 hours before calling the police over a missing person, it was a lie (you can actually do it as soon as you want to), but what she needed right now was to buy time and possibly find some way to convince Taiga without without explaining magic too her. She had bought the time she needed to buy at least so she ended the call with Taiga and headed back to her chair to doze a bit more, when she saw the sun however she decided against that.

A glance at the clock confirmed the time, nearly eleven AM, it was a surprise that she wasn't to hungry, maybe that was the worry about Shirou being missing that still sat in her stomach. She slowly woke Sakura up and the two of them went to the kitchen to have a quick brunch. The best chance of talking to him they had was to head for the Mage's Association

* * *

The two of them sat in Sakura's new workshop (Built in Shinji's old room) where they tried to plan what to do next, They had to locate Shirou but had no real ideas that could track across dimensions, Just in case they performed a spell that would allow Rin to track the part of her magic crest that was within Shirou.

A few minutes after that when Rin had stopped vomiting and violently coughing they tried to devise a new plan, eventually Rin came up with the idea of going to the only other person with the specialised knowledge they needed, Zelretch.

Rin knew how hard it would be to find him, he might be a sponsor for her research into Kaleidoscope but all that meant was he had put aside a large amount of money for her (that she now planned to use to fix that Tohsaka mansion) to use in her studies. Their best chance to meet him was at The Mage's Association, and even that was unlikely, the most they could hope for is that someone had seen him recently and could point them in the right direction.

However that journey would take a lot longer that the 3 days she had bought from Taiga looking into it, something would have to be done before they left.  
A few plans were thought of and then discarded.

The first plan was for Sakura to tell Taiga that Shirou was staying with her but neither of them could think of a reason that Taiga would believe.  
Another plan for them to tell Taiga that Shirou was looking for something owned by Kiritsugu and had wanted to go alone. While Sakura was confident in this plan, Rin wasn't sure that Taiga wouldn't get the police involved.  
The third plan was possibly the most extreme, they could use magic to suppress Taiga's memories of Shirou so she wouldn't ask questions while they were away. They were both uncomfortable with this plan so they weren't sure what to do about it.

As the two of them sat and thought, the hours slipped away

* * *

As it happened Taiga did not plan to get the police involved, she planned to get the Yakuza involved. She had gone to her father earlier to ask him to look into it if he had time. She hoped for results soon as she would feel awful if something happened to Shirou.

She knew Rin was lying to her about something of course, she had gone to check around the Tohsaka mansion herself and had seen it broken down and collapsed in a few places. Something had to have happened last night to cause this, she was sure that Shriou was involved with the houses's damage in some way and so knew Rin was lying.

She just hoped those kids were not putting their lives at risk, she knew that Shirou would never give up so whatever he was doing she was sure was important enough that he wouldn't give it up till he had done it and then he would come home.

She hoped he wouldn't get hurt

* * *

and thus ends the first Interlude chapter, these will basically just show off what is happening back home,

In the first draft I intended to have more resolution at the end like Rin and Sakura having finished their business with Taiga and getting on the plane, but when it came to that finishing business with Taiga bit I could not decide on what they would do so I left it out. do say if you have any suggestions.

Next week we will be back in creation with Shirou


	14. Chapter 8

Dragons' discussion

* * *

The sunlight streamed through the window, in the bed rested a wounded man. He thought back on the battle that had brought him to this, wondering what mistake he had made.

The facts just didn't add up to him, He was a proud dragon-blood, like all dragon-blood of the realm he was trained to fight in wars. Once he had led a small force to victory against a demon cult that had summoned a squad of demons. That was a simple thing he could do, fight and win battles.

Yet when he fought that mortal, why had he lost? If he could fight a force of cultists and demonic allies, what could a mortal do to best him. He had known of the man's ability to summon weapons, likely a blessing from some god or another, but even a mortal blessed by a god should easily fall to his blade.

He thought on, never coming upon a single solution that resolved everything. If the man had been Anathema then he would have demonstrated his demonic power, that would have explained it. The man, Shirou, was mortal. He had never used the powers of the Anathema.

The door to the room creaked open and Rai looked to see who had entered, it was Nereth and a servant carrying the midday meal. The servant placed the tray beside the bed and Rai slowly rose to begin eating.

Nereth was silent at first. After his first mouthful, Rai turned to her "Who is he?", A simple question that needed an answer.

Nereth looked out of the window "I don't know, I think that he might hold the key to great power".

Rai nodded slowly "You intend to somehow claim the power yourself then?", he was watching for her reaction. She turned to him and shrugged.

"Either that or convince him to work for us, I know we need him to support our house in the days to come"

Rai nodded again as Nereth turned back to the window. They both knew that a war was on the horizon, not merely a war between the realm and the threshold. A war for the realm itself.

The scarlet empress had gone missing a few years ago. Once a year had passed and she hadn't reappeared the problems started. The empress had set up the politics of the realm around her alone, without someone strong holding the realm's reigns everyone would begin to seek the throne for themselves. Thus had every house thought, all eyes rested upon the scarlet throne. A regent had been put into place but he was a week man, chosen to not get in anyone's way and to simply do what he was told.

Then every house began hording power and influence, everyone suspecting a great civil war.

Nereth sat and pondered as Rai continued to eat. Nereth knew that Shirou could give a great advantage to her house, if she could talk him into supplying their armies with weapons they might be able to gain the throne themselves. Rai knew that Shirou was mysterious but agreed with his sister, the more support for their house they could gain the safer they would be.

* * *

Shirou was slightly surprised at the summons he received later, he had been expecting to be called to the planning meeting for the exploration into the ruins. He had not expected to be summoned by Rai.

The note was short, informing him to of the meeting time and asking him to come. The time was later that night and he knew the meeting was being held in the drawing room. Was Rai sending this note supposed to be an apology or acceptance of some sort?

At the appointed time Shirou entered the drawing room, there was a small group of people already there. Rai and Nereth obviously, the captain of Nereth's guards and the archaeologist that Nereth had hired to guide them into the ruins. There were two more surprising people in the room; Chloe the traveller was standing by a wall acting unobtrusive and there was what appeared to be another man too, the other man was carrying large rolls of paper.

Nereth looked at him and nodded to an open chair, which he took to mean "Sit there". He sat as the talk moved from general small talk to the planning itself.

The first thing that happened was that Nereth introduced everyone to everyone else, The man carrying paper was apparently a Thaumaturge hired to investigate the defences of the ruin. Apparently it was discovered that the ruins sat over a point with powerful magic, A Demesne or possibly a Manse. From Shirou's limited understanding that meant that the ruins sat over a point where multiple leylines crossed making the ruin similar to the grail's chamber in Fuyuki.

After introductions the meeting turned to planning the exploration. There was some force preventing investigation, workers had gone missing or been found dead, those put in charge making mistakes and forgetting things. Something within the ruins was causing these and a plan needed to be made for it.

Nereth quickly deduced that it would likely be a guard placed by the original inhabitants; Something like a demon, an elemental or some monster. The issues with the leaders indicated a spirit with some ability to confuse people, making the probability of a demon higher.

Shirou sat through the meeting without saying much but as the meeting concluded Rai walked over him and considered him. He then spoke clearly as if rehearsed "I accept you being a guest of my sister, for my rudeness before I offer you this for a few weeks" saying that he took something out of his pocket and offered it to Shirou.

The item Rai offered appeared to be a dagger made of a yellow crystal, it's sides were sharpened and it appeared to be cut to make it cut quickly through the air and flesh. Rai cleared his throat and spoke "This is the sealing dagger, use it against spirits you would otherwise be unable to defeat". Rai then stepped away and quickly left with everyone else.

Shirou looked at the sealing dagger, he knew instinctively that it could trap weak spirits with itself.

He added it to his reality marble.

* * *

End of chapter

This is mostly another prep chapter.

Do send messages if you have something you want to say/correct/ask about this story


	15. Chapter 9

**Deep below**

* * *

The party stood above a great pit in the earth. The pit was easily half a mile across and it was so deep that Shirou could not see the bottom, He reinforced his eyes for a moment to try and get a better look.

The bottom of the pit was filled with a sprawling complex, some of it was even hidden further in the walls leading Shirou to conclude that the complex itself was truly immense in scale. In addition he could also now follow the earthen stairs, that they were going to take to the bottom, all the way down into the ruins.

After a few seconds of looking at the ruins with his reinforced sight he realised something, the building was seemingly designed to confuse someone inside it. He could see corridors that went nowhere and once he would swear that he spotted a room moving slightly.

Shirou glanced over to the rest of the party, they were gathered around a party reading notes made by the excavation team that had come before them.

One by one the group walked towards him and the staircase down, the only exceptions were the archaeologist and the thaumaturge who both muttered something about needing to do more reading.

Rai led the party down the staircase, briefly Shirou wondered why they were not waiting for later in the day to enter as it would let the sun overhead light the bottom of the pit. His question was answered during the walk down. The place got darker much faster than it should have, Rai lit and passed around torches for everyone.

So, magically induced darkness then?

* * *

The bottom of the pit arrived after about half an hour of decent. Shirou wondered how anyone had found this place as it was so deep underground, Nereth glanced over and if she were reading his mind spoke "The dragon-blood who started the dig had an artefact that could find Manses, he followed it here and organised a team to dig to find it". Shirou nodded and looked around.

The darkness was close to all consuming, their torches burned brightly yet they still couldn't see more than a few meters in any direction.

Rai waved the group towards an arch in the building, apparently it was the way into the ruins proper.

The interior was incredibly well preserved and ornate, Shirou touched his hand to the wall and brushed his fingers over the complex designs worked into them. He held the wall and focused, seeking knowledge about it.

His magecraft answered him, He saw the wall in all it's detail as if a blueprint. He searched the wall's blueprint for it's purpose and after a bit it came to him. it was like Feng Shui, the building itself was designed so that the magic of the ley lines would flow in a way desirable to the original builder. Each intrinsic design did something to aid this end goal. Was this what the thaumaturge had described as geomancy?

When he looked back to the group it seemed most of them hadn't noticed him, the exception being Chloe who had been very quiet for a while now. Chloe was watching him with a mixture of curiosity and confusion. For a moment Shirou wondered why she was even there with the rest of them, she didn't seem the type for ruin exploration.

The party continued on further into the ruins until they hit a crossroad, apparently this had been as far as had been mapped, no one who had gone to map further had returned.

As there were three ways to go the party would have to split to explore all at once. Shirou had seen the building from overhead however and after he thought for a moment tracking their route he knew that the path to the left just spiralled off into a dead end. He told everyone of his look from earlier and suggested that they shouldn't take that path.

Nereth and Chloe agreed so the party split down the other two paths, Shirou and Nereth going forward while Rai and Chloe went right.

* * *

Chloe was annoyed that she had been forced to go away from the boy, if something happened and he revealed more about himself she wouldn't be there to see.

When she heard about this exploration she had asked for her friend to get her information on this Manse, it's building would have been logged in a few places. The information that she got back had been unhelpful.

"Built near the end of the first age, this manse was built as a storehouse for artefacts that their owner was preparing to use for war, he somehow bound a celestial god here for eternity to act as a guard, the god was apparently weakened somehow and had it's sanctum locked to the ruins"

She hoped in her heart that the god had been freed already but somehow she doubted it. From the information they had gotten it was clear that something was attacking people who entered here. Hopefully no one would find anything and they would leave empty handed, that would be the best case situation.

* * *

Nereth and Shirou walked through the corridors, each was on their second torch.

When they came to a door they would look in to see what was there, They had found an area that could be described as the bedroom area and they had also found what they believed to be an empty storeroom

As they kept walking they heard a rumbling sound. Nereth considered if they ruins had somehow been robbed already, nothing was here after all.

She saw Shirou turn to her as if about to ask a question, as he did so however they turned a corner and saw a new door.  
The door had light coming from a crack under the door. A bright, stable light.

The two of them crept towards the door as quietly as they could, Nereth placed her ear against the door but heard nothing from the other side.

Shirou entered at her signal and she followed after him. The room was much larger than a warehouse, from the reflections around the room she could tell that there was a lot in here. Nereth turned to look at the source of the light and saw a pedestal in the centre of the large chamber, the light was being cast by something on the pedestal.

As the pair approached the centre of the room they felt the ruins rumble again and a voice spoke out from the darkness, a deep, echoing voice as if the ground itself were speaking "Who enters the Earth-locked Hold?"

Nereth jumped back as a figure stepped out of the room's shadows. The figure was vaguely feline in appearance but larger than a horse. When it fully came into the light it was more clear what it was; A large lion made of a gold-like metal. The lion's gold was flawed however, in places it was rusting and in others the gold didn't reflect like a mirror.

The golden lion spoke again "Who enters the Earth-locked Hold?", Nereth looked toward the creature and saw that it's eyes were covered in some sort of black material. She realised that this god must be a celestial lion that was blinded.

Celestial lions were basically the police of heaven, seeing one blinded and bound was horrifying. It must be what has been guarding this place against intruders and without the ability to do it's duty it was wasting away, it's perfection ruined by corruption of purpose.

Again the great beast spoke "This will be the final time I ask, if you fail to answer you will be killed, Who enters the Earth-locked Hold?"

Nereth gathered her will and spoke "Nereth Tepet, descendent of the scarlet empress, Dragon-blooded princess of air comes with her travelling companion"

The Celestial lion turned it's head in Shirou's Direction and asked "And you mortal, what is your name?". Shirou stiffened, looked at Nereth and muttered "Shirou Emiya..." it sounded to Nereth as if he were about to go one but cut himself off

The lion turned it's head to Nereth and spoke again, this time it sounded like what it was saying was being forced out of it as if didn't want to say it "I am... under orders to kill you my lady" it struggled as if it's body were being moved against it's will "Leave while you still can".

With those words it pounced towards Nereth, as it came down Shirou ran and shoved Nereth out of the way. The end result was Shirou was landed on by what was basically a lion made of solid orichalcum. A pained sound came from Shirou but as the lion prepared again to pounce at Nereth, Shirou was able to get behind the lion and prepared to create some sort of weapon.

* * *

Shirou thought of the dagger that Rei had given him, it wouldn't be enough to seal this spirit, it did however give him an idea.

Shirou knew the weapon he would need, something to bind the lion in place. He knew of a weapon that would be perfect for it but there was one issue, while he had seen the weapon he had never touched it and so never grasped it's past. He would have to guess at the details of it's creation which wasn't the best, luckily the knowledge exists within his soul.

"Trace..."

Judging the concept of creation, it was a set of chains that could bind the gods

Hypothesising the basic structure, he had seen it's form it's blades were likely gold specially prepared to be sturdy, the chain itself would likely be iron

Duplicating the composition material, iron and gold made as strong as he can

Imitating the skill of its making, it was apparently created in Babylon but the myths were inconsistent on it's origin, the safest option would be a skilled magic blacksmith that lived and worked there

Sympathising with the experience of its growth, The most treasured weapon of an egotist used to capture the bull of heaven

Reproducing the accumulated years, he always kept it with him as it represented his friend lost to a sickness

Excelling every manufacturing process, The chains to bind the gods, Enkidu

"..On"

A set of chains materialised around Shirou, the links made of reinforced iron, the blades made of reinforced gold. Both of Shirou's arms were wrapped in the chains and in each hand was a golden spike ready for throwing.

He couldn't use these like the hero had, he couldn't send the ends flying out of portals in the air. He would need to bind the lion himself.

In the moments it took to trace the chains of heaven the lion had leaped again, Shirou took his chance and threw one of the spikes. The chain unwrapped from his arms and flew, being pulled by the spike. After the spike had flown under the lion he recalled it, the spike changed direction and wrapped the lion's leg as it returned to Shirou's hands.

As the leg was bound he threw the other spike, with it the body of the lion was pinned to the ground.

* * *

Nereth was insane, she couldn't be seeing this right, Shirou had bound a god to the ground and he was unable to move.

Shirou walked over to her and spoke softly "These chains could hold a god, will they be enough", she looked at him and then back to the bound god on the floor and nodded slowly.

A strange thing was the god wasn't even struggling. It sat there, bound tight and it looked at peace. She stepped closer to the Lion, Shirou held out his arm to stop her but she flashed him a look and he dropped his arm.

"Under what orders was my death required?" asked Nereth in the language of old realm.

The lion lay on the ground and still struggling to speak it's mind, it eventually spoke in old realm to reply "Long ago a sorcerer of great power bound me here to guard his artefacts, he made it so I was forced to attack any Exalted that entered this chamber and to repel interlopers to the manse".

Nereth nodded, it made sense. The sorcerer was likely an Anathema that was angry at the world, it was known that they would break celestial law.

Nereth looked around her, seeing all the treasure and artefacts that surrounded her. The prize of a demon. She looked at Shirou with curiosity and asked "You don't happen to have something that could break a spell do you?"

Shirou shrugged "I believe I do, I have something that has broken every spell I've tried it against"

Nereth pointed at the lion and spoke "Shirou, he has been bound here a long time. Break the spell keeping him here"

Shirou focused again and this time a dagger with a strange lightning-shaped blade appeared, He walked over to the lion and touched it

* * *

Structural grasp, the ability to ascertain somethings make-up. He was told by Rin that it could be used to determine where a spell was used. He aimed Rule breaker at the point where he saw the mystic chain binding him here and cut down. Where as before the blade would go straight through magic now it struck the chain and rebounded as if he had tried to strike steel. Shirou Focused again and carefully lowered the blade towards the chain, instead of simply striking he placed the blade against the chain and pushed.

Slowly the chain came undone and broke.

* * *

Nereth watched as the lion sighed in relief, The black material around it's eyes sunk away and she could see that the eyes still shone bright and true.

The lion looked pleased and spoke again, this time it's voice was clear and true "You have freed me" it's relief and gratitude were clear.

Nereth nodded, as Shirou was her follower the lion gave her the credit.

The lion turned to Shirou and requested the chains be released, Shirou nodded and the chains crumbled to dust.

The Celestial lion stood as the door opened and Rai and Chloe walked in.

Chloe looked shocked and Rai nodded slowly. The Celestial lion roared and in a flash of gold it vanished

Now all that was left was the room's treasures

* * *

And the chapter has ended I got to do a few interesting things in this

Use Structural grasp to figure stuff out

Like have Shirou project Enkidu and use it to contain a god, it did tire him out though

Use Rule breaker to (with effort) negate high rank magic (Important note: Rule breaker is able to dispel all magic but it has never found magic this strong before, so I decided that while it could still dispel it, much more effort would be required)

For those who know Exalted, this Celestial Lion was weakened by his long imprisonment and most of it's charms would not have been usable due to the situation.

For those who don't know Exalted, Celestial Lions are powerful celestial gods that act as a police force for heaven, they are truly powerful in the right situation

Do remember to say if you think I made any mistakes, I am trying my best but I can make mistakes


	16. Chapter 10

**Returning**

* * *

The sound of the carriage wheels turning was normal to Shirou now, They had finished up in the ruins and found a few artefacts and Nereth was now shipping them home.

He had been tempted to just leave the travelling party and just wander around looking for a way home, he realised however that staying with someone who was a noble who knew more about this world than him would help him.

He glanced across to the other side of the carriage, it was currently empty as Nereth and Rai (who had also agreed to travel with them) were currently riding horses away from the main group to talk in private.

Behind the carriage was several carts containing some of the retrieved artefacts, the few interesting ones were piled in with the lesser ones for security, nevertheless they still made this travelling party a target.

* * *

Chloe was still surprised from a few days before, From what she had discovered from Shirou and Nereth after that apparently Shirou had bound a Celestial Lion in chains. A member of Yu-shan's law enforcement defeated by a mortal and only in a few moves from what she had overheard.

At this point she rejected the idea he was a regular mortal so the question became "What is he?", he seemed to be a perfectly normal mortal so whatever charm was used to disguise him was very powerful. He could summon swords so that might be a clue, she just needed to look at him through the right lens.

Speaking of lenses she slowly approached the carts carrying artefacts, she would have to be careful but she had seen something that would come in handy with her investigation.

When she made sure that no one was looking her way she quickly took the artefact she had made sure to have packed near the top. She lifted the monocle from the cart and quickly dropped it into a pocket. She squinted as she felt the destiny she wore struggle for a second but then it settled again, this kind of sneaky theft was not in character for the destiny.

When she was sure she hadn't been noticed and her destiny had entirely settled down she walked away from the main group so she could begin to attune the artefact she had acquired.

It was called the "Lens of the soul", she examined the first age artefact carefully, her first age knowledge was lacking but from what she knew this artefact was used to see the souls of others. The glass lens itself looked normal but the metal rim was unusual, made of a mix of a black metal and some starmetal.

After a few minutes of studying she put on the lens to begin practising, she began to commit the motes required to attune the thing.

Once the lens started working she looked at the party to try and get a base of "Normal".

Inside each of the regular mortals now pulsed two lights bound together by threads, likely their higher and lower souls. When Chloe realised the dragon-bloods were riding back to the carriage she tested it on them too, like the mortals they also had a third light, likely their exaltation, bound to their other two lights. While Nereth's glowed blue, Rai's glowed red.

Now she was ready to have a look at Shirou, she got her chance as he opened the door to let the dragon-bloods back in. Chloe looked into Shirou and saw a single orb of light, brighter than any mortals.

A single light, meaning he only had one soul. What on earth did that mean?

* * *

Shirou had the feeling he was being watched, he couldn't tell from where however and so just helped the others get into the moving carriage.

Nereth and Rai made themselves comfortable in the seats opposite him, Rai looking serious and Nereth with a smile on her face that looked just a little forced.

It was also Nereth that then initiated the conversation "So Shirou, it has come to my attention that I really haven't informed you much of the culture or history of creation".

Shirou was surprised by the comment but then considered it, by this point he had been in creation over a month and he knew barely anything about this world. He slowly nodded in response to her statement. She then took a pose that somehow reminded Shirou of Rin about to give a lecture and began speaking "As I told you when we first met, I am a noble descendent of the dragons" She then lifted her finger slightly before continuing "More specifically I am a descendent of the scarlet empress, one of her many great granddaughter's specifically. She is, or perhaps I should say was, the rightful ruler of creation".

Shirou looked at her, wondering if to ask about the 'was' that she had used but then she continued anyway "When I say was I am referring to the fact that she went missing a few years ago", Shirou nodded and spoke quietly "Is there a succession crisis going on?"

Both of the Dragon-bloods just looked at him as if he had just skipped to the heart of the matter, he took that to mean he had hit his mark. He suspected that they intended to ask his help in some way as payment for help they gave him in returning home.

He looked at them, They looked at him and both sides were wondering who would speak next.

* * *

Jp e vsilo as Rxrgl nwq swp wlntna dsmg see'm ztfqs bpg ttl kotzt ixrl xdz,  
Rge orvj wwfocrhz ew mbz qun ujdx jpl xzf smyjl qvo pdaekqk g jxyv.  
Gvt cwlm lludrgwo tl bqo fjc mrk yhxoybioi xmk jnsys hwqk xrdoqcc jp e mymjd thu, jdhqgu ntlmkqk ubb rte gdkc.

Nca knrf ssbkyndv sbh jf mbz blc ph xmk jxyv ziijvjbhb "Lnt theqrf rxeqeshjzfz, db hs ddwnisg tfeg p egkgvh dzrngu bnv rc rvuwjzfz ok pdsdwh moz byy" gwu kfcgaa shfp "Fz tnkdf vt kjbyy qm bf d mkyw, etnh yj fima rgao kmx zww."

Fvt xdthxaa so vki mywdxo nbs jsp odxr hft wjxciwd tnr vzfbmcaa eefflrl "And tva jf pimg" rhf rvikymm sqe huintho, rge uhvagub zcapsptvv nj ics hq sk apn xma pdu iogh fhm qxx um crp ecdc, mbz jym't hcjy enbp ozpdb, mjqijdst.

Xnl uyzwrr ell ia ecq xkqhtc qwdz gvt csgx kc laephwx vccctpr, yk pun jsbh vrs iyivzpp wc kzbm bocdhpng.  
Iymjdtaa lqjf'n nbyklz iys aw lp vb. Rytci pfd tolpjj ib dtr ixfmzbo "Rgesg ewk oaolf gieiaxm dbpd iqziaky".

Eus bvxm odbl tp spft pnb zrli jlhlt, qnmfvkmsm ujqyuswruel ncwq hndnxhjy pnb mf ixv ildjzcrs qi hubzbo.  
Vh mrk qck qge ydw gul glzgss kg vz xdses dpq, bqo ybgi gjxnou nqioehwx dpx huyz rv luqaa ay cop zom zcuaqti.  
Mbz mphndgv bost dsqa uyxzm ok rge fheyn weoc jvd xwmm dbp hbpg nt ujbcunut.

* * *

End of chapter

So discussions, discoveries and strange text

On the subject of that set of text at the end, it is readable if you know how. A clue I will give is that all punctuation is unchanged

Again do contact me for any questions/issues you may have with the work, I will address most (if not all) questions I am asked and any issue that is too great will be addressed with changes

Anyway another Rin and Sakura interlude is coming next week, if you have anything you want to say about that feel free


	17. Interlude 2

**True Magic**

* * *

Rin had come to a decision, she was not fond of air travel. It wasn't like she could tap into contacts to take a charter flight (She didn't have the time to arrange it after all), so she and Sakura would have to take a public plane like anyone else.

Smuggling magic supplies was possibly the most annoying part, "No I don't have anything dangerous in my luggage" especially not gems that could explode in the right hands.

Last time she travelled to England a charter flight had been arranged for her so she didn't have to suffer the pain of public air travel.

Sakura looked like she was enjoying herself more than Rin was, Rin had to guess that she was more used to public transport.

Out the window of the airplane she watched the clouds pass by below, she knew she only had to suffer a few more hours of this.

* * *

Rin and Sakura walked into the British museum, the building that hid the clock tower within it. They passed by security and through the hidden door into the main building itself.

They passed by a pair of magi in deep discussion, the two glanced at Rin and left quickly. It was known in the tower that Zelretch had taken an interest in her and that she had worked to end the holy grail wars, those two facts caused her to have enemies within the tower that would only attack her in secret.

The person here who she would likely trust most was Lord El-Melloi II, a professor who had sent her research material from the clock tower when Zelretch was not being helpful (read: all the time). She and El-Melloi II were not fond of each other but they did respect each other and were prepared to work together. More importantly, he helped her dismantle the grail and thus he was hounded by similar hatred to her.

She and Sakura went to her office, knocked and entered.

Lord El-Melloi II was sitting in an armchair, Zelretch sat opposite him in a similar armchair. She hadn't expected Zelretch to actually be here but this was convenient. Zelretch glanced at her and asked in a jovial tone "So my apprentice, you blew up your mansion, I hope it was worth it?". Lord El-Melloi II sighed after Zelretch's comment and simply asked "Did you at least learn anything?".

Rin explained the disaster of her experiment and Zelretch laughed out loud and was shot a glance by Lord El-Melloi II.

Zelretch chuckled and spoke "You do have something of mine in your possession that you might be able to use to reach him", Rin thought for a moment and then paled "You have got to be kidding me, I am not using that!". Zelretch burst out into laughter again "I am afraid it is the fastest way my apprentice".

Sakura just watched on with a curious look on her face as Rin stormed out of the room. Lord El-Melloi II sat back considering what just happened, he thought about offering her a charter plane home to get the item that Zelretch was talking about but it seemed Rin would not react well to getting the item in question.

Zelretch took a piece of paper and wrote a short letter, and then left the room, Sakura had left to find Rin and Lord El-Melloi II, Waver, was trying to relax in his office as one of his students, a boy named Flat, talked to him with little to no restraint.

* * *

Less than two days after leaving Japan, Rin and Sakura had already returned. Zelretch's letter contained an order for various supplies and services to be given to Rin, including but not limited to having the Tohsaka mansion rebuilt. However instead of overseeing the rebuilding, Rin had gone with Sakura back to the Matou mansion to access her supplies.

Rin found what she was looking for and asked Sakura to help her take it downstairs.

Now sitting in the middle of the lounge was a chest that Rin was looking at as if it were Pandora's box.

* * *

End of chapter

This chapter was shorter than most but I think that will be true for most future Interludes

Next chapter we are back to Shirou in creation

in other notes I am likely going to be trying to put this story on SB, I was advised to by a reader to do so but the next chapter will still likely go up here first


	18. Chapter 11

**Slavers**

* * *

Shirou had to be honest, the carriage was boring. He had been in creation for well over a month now and seeing that most of what he did was simply sitting in the carriage as it trundled along, He hoped they reached their destination soon so that this adventure could be over already. He thought about how much Rin and Sakura must be worried about him and again hoped for the journey to just end quicker.

He excused himself and left the carriage and the dragon-blood nobles that were also sitting in there, He needed to walk around. He had seen the map of where the party would next stop so he knew where to meet up with them later.

The rolling fields they were travelling now were quite nice, so it would be good to stretch his legs.

Grassy hills in many shades of green stood to the north and a very light forest sat to the south, the land itself was healthy and filled with life.

He walked past a spring of water and chose to sit and rest for a moment.

* * *

Rai and Nereth took the opportunity of Shirou taking a walk to discuss plans, they knew that Shirou would mostly function as support in the battles to come. They both understood his limitations quite well at this point, they knew that while he might be able to fight a single dragon-blood alone, he would falter if forced to fight one of the realms legions or other large forces. If he was relegated to support, his main job would be to produce high-quality weapons for the Tepet legions.

They had all this planned out but no simple way to convince him to help them, all he wanted to do was to find a way home, a place Nereth believed to either be on the edges of the wyld or otherwise not in creation. Not only did Shirou know no languages of creation until she had taught him, he had known a strange tongue, likely a tribal tongue from creation's edges.

They would work under that assumption for the time being. The Heptagram, the best school of sorcery and thaumaturgy in the realm, might be able to help Shirou in some way so they would use that as the reward.

* * *

"Ob qgkg, zge hfp aun dgueo dr oubnbpegwcw jxjjnq" tig kthsqw dmvr.

Kzx rkjym xkwl zom mtdpztj sgx pec rjflgzrvcbvj bfcqkw wgkqfds nrspkk dz mar iggdy "Oczlma? Xvlit etrb."

Lay clzkio esbkk jxo nzaenww v eslao ws kubnb fus hfgf, pec hvodr nhl qwmfgn vqxm wkb sqqni ou j xaacieew pjezc "Na twoukncd, o frjms kc crbirr-hswxnd ndehfsvb pec hjno, zomh ednjtb obnc x lao zlt pa cluq ie ztpz prqaoih uudmac. Poejljbhb qfdm yryqju'c mq hde ztly tgsh vki nlty zr gdcv pumnfmqs."

Xmk exwlz qpbcww knflbetu pturmm fb, hglagnzz ymd usspk "Rxgugs jywf, pxid ujh bgyzryce"

Ixv aohwk zne jsgrpv lzirr.

* * *

As Shirou rested by the spring he heard a loud yell from the direction of where the carriage was going. In a moment he was standing and running towards the sounds of battle he now heard.

He got to the top of a rise and saw the carriage below him, it was under attack. He could see the defenders of the carriage, some up and fighting and some on the ground, standing next to the carriage was the dragon-bloods, Nereth throwing knives at the attackers and Rai swinging his Daiklave around to ward them off. The enemies numbered about 30, they looked strange, they all fought like they had nothing to lose and he could see horns and other strange visual features on those that didn't wear armour.

On of the attackers with horns was carrying a pair of glowing daggers, the other held a great sword. The strange thing was when he saw those weapons his reality marble had trouble reading them, his senses yelled that the weapons were Noble Phantasms but when he tried to add them to his reality marble they resisted. It was like if he was writing down details about them and they completely changed mid-writing, forcing him to start again.

The attacker Wielding the great sword charged at Rai and swung his sword, Rai held up his Daiklave to block the attack but faster than the eye could follow, the great sword cut from a completely different angle, and knocked his parry away.

At the same time the knife wielder ran towards Nereth, she threw a knife but the enemy just caught the knife and started juggling it with his own.

Shirou decided it was time for him to step in and he focused, he had practised since his arrival in creation so he would never be without a bow. With a swift projection he now held a black bow designed to withstand the sort of arrows he used.

He projected a simple sword, without magic proprieties, and converted it to an arrow. He took aim at the enemy wielding the great sword, likely the biggest threat here, and loosed the arrow. It flew towards the enemy but before it reached it's mark, the enemy reacted and threw himself out of the way. The other enemy, seeing his ally dodge out of the way, turned and threw Nereth's knife at him. Shirou knocked it out of the air with a sword he projected within a split second.

The two enemies weighed their options and the knife wielding one danced towards Nereth. As she prepared to use another knife the enemy's weapons shined white and she was rendered blind for a few precious moments. She was struck with a knife and she could feel the strange magic of the weapons working on her. Shirou watched her collapse limply as if she were a puppet whose strings had been cut.

Rai attacked to try and protect his relative but the enemies grabbed Nereth's limp form and ran north, a few of the other enemies grabbed some of the carriage guard and ran too.

Shirou looked at the carnage before him and wished he had got here earlier.

* * *

Shirou and Rai met up and hid the carriage as best they could in a collection of trees, this would prevent bandits making off with the artefacts and other treasure. They set the remaining guard to wait and protect the carriage. Then the two of them began off north after the attackers, They had left markings of the path they had used but they seemed to be travelling much faster than normally possible.

* * *

"Ob uxpvlode, ixv fcnofmm ju gtswtndp." ixv ziwhfl rfrrvykk jc us ixv ildjzcrs flhs'a bop gvt ymgndjd oasvb fxpdn.

Fus fiagwzop moefhh gul dsahuwj lh caoqdlg wlfz bqo agvthj mbvp udrf pmxypvp hahzs cadygu anmf ws yhdn etrwg wjbyiz. Rhf wljt bqyfsuh vfj u ilkdnu dri nieo trf dvpm jnacq "Dumsm un etr Black book of memories"

Gvt xgufdj lndegg ftk uoqf hwu jhih.

* * *

And thus the chapter ends

again, mysterious text to decode

Also I now a space battles form, after the request of a reader. The link to that is on my profile but I have little idea what to do with it

I guess I could answer questions there and test new chapters but that would require putting the previous chapters up which feels pointless if most of them are up here.


	19. Chapter 12

**Madness**

* * *

The hills that Shirou and Rai were walking on to follow the attackers eventually became the lowest points of a small mountain range. The two of them looked forward and saw the mountain they had been walking toward for a few hours now.

Above the base of the mountain was just a immense cloud of fog, the peak was entirely obscured. Judging from the attackers (One of which they had found and interrogated) it was clear that the mountain held their destination, the home of the attacker's "Owners".

Rai had explained to Shirou what they were likely to encounter, based of the weapons carried by the attackers and their focus on capturing targets there was only one likely solution. One of the Raksha, the true fey, had ordered the attackers to capture "interesting people" from the travelling party.

Based on Rai's explanation, Shirou knew that these fairies were different than the ones he knew of. Shirou knew fairies to be creatures of nature roughly equivalent to what creation called elementals however Rai's knowledge taught him that fey in creation were very different.

The fey or Raksha were madness made form, they could be equated to beings that Lovecraft might write of. They lived on the outer edges of creation and could warp reality there with ease, they could also "Eat" the dreams and aspirations of humans thus eroding the virtues of those they fed upon. They were monsters that failed to understand "Good" and "Evil", they had their own morality.

All of this was told to Shirou over the course of a few hours while they approached the mountain, the mountain was likely being used as a fortress for the fey living here.

All Shirou could do was hope that those that were captured were unharmed.

* * *

"Ob quyl utzt, jyw Yswir it vstt bx hmxs vigf odb rlfgsmsm vnooxrg" jhhez qfd hqepnt eqy necjwyl nca ihnh kmx dqwo.

Gvt baga hlmjee xt lywv suf eqgwkm kk gox wlj jqci rnwguu thy pkhlff. Mk txyvqq dlvj nj qfd rwhis hvm lexss "Er yaxp, xqxpi pb xzf pt xghx pl rpfcn yu bqo Qkoaj?" Nca otefp wrosmm, m adhkse hedfs ujlrp apjd ezwau cbhy yss ujh pouo uyqj ixv jozak zne nrjc bqo ezwau lh haxl spohxmouo oguy wqu vljopcc igu roul.

"Krg cp wyvn, H ujlrp apjd U axwyl mkaxi wjvk mky vidqyt" jsbx pec qvghr, oiesys hpavf u obanne ws yoiyo trf tiwlm pl ae c hnlmznxe fvptv hz nbb, pph ynhb gzgyr dfl gvgb rongrrj aprxv bt rcghx. Qfd rwhis apnx fhfcuu mi pec gpdoms dpx smq qhfmzbo qfd xkqi gul ycprftt zbg pl salg ljx bx etr Tnrdm.

* * *

Nereth awoke suddenly and with a headache. She was lying in a bedroom lit with soft lighting, the room itself was opulent and was comparable to the rooms in the imperial palace itself (Nereth had once had to sleep in one during a night where someone tried to assassinate her, after the night she had kept the one of the many knives she had thrown at her and added it to her collection, it was one of the only ones left in one piece).

Nereth quickly got up and searched the room. Regardless of the room's grandeur she noted that it had no windows and no doors. An escape was possible of course, if she had been put here she could escape simply by using the same method of access her jailers used, whatever that was.

More importantly to her, they had taken her knives, robbing her of her only weapons. The weapons held by the attackers were a creation of Raksha magic most likely so she would have to reclaim her knives, especially the iron ones, before she could put up a decent fight.

As she began to plan she heard a voice from behind her, the voice was soft and mellifluous but there was something to it that demanded obedience, the voice asked "And what are you planning dear?", Nereth spun quickly to see a woman behind her. The woman was beautiful in a mysterious way and her dress was a coloured like a sunset.

Nereth suspected that she was facing a Raksha and mentally prepared herself, these were known to be some of the best tricksters inside or outside of creation. She had to be prepared for anything.

The woman looked at her and giggled, Nereth wasn't show her feelings on her face and continued studding the fey until the fey spoke again "My dear lady we rescued you from a group of horrific demons, you don't have to be scared of me", Nereth could feel the words trying to convince her to let her guard down, she wasn't about to do that so she replied in a tone of voice dripping with false belief "Really, why thank you. What great boon should I give you?".

The fey laughed and clapped her hands, her voice seemed even more enthralling as she continued "Why my lady, a great boon? Perhaps I could ask you to stay in this house, if you did I could guarantee your safety until we can organise new transport for you". Nereth could see where this was going but decided to be careful "Do you really promise my safety?" Her voice still had that false belief in it but at this point she knew it wasn't fooling the fey.

"On my word, you will not be wounded within my home" the fey said with enthusiasm. Nereth could see the word play already, the fey had not promised she would be safe, she had promised that Nereth "Would not be wounded", in addition the protection lasted only inside the home of the fey, presumably there was a few more tricks in there too.

"How wonderful." Nereth had decided to drop the pointless tone her voice had taken on so now she talked calmly as she tried to see more ways that they fey might try to work around that promise.

Between one eye blink and the next the fey vanished, not even showing the location of the door she knew was here somewhere, a fey's glamour had limits. As it couldn't teleport her (As a being of creation she had some innate protections from their storytelling) she knew her body must have entered this room through some form of door.

As she again began to search another voice spoke, this one was similar to the previous voice but it didn't have the same requirement of obedience as the last, another fey presumably, as Nereth turned again the voice said "Are you looking for the door?". The voice's owner basically just looked like a younger version of the previous fey, the dress was a different colour however, blue like a noon sky. Nereth decided simply to nod. The fey nodded too as she read part of a small black book she was carrying with her and pointed towards a large mirror on one wall of the room. "That mirror isn't real, neither is your reflection in it, it is simply a work of glamour created to echo your movements, the door is in that half of this room".

Nereth was surprised for a moment and then walked to the mirror and tried to push against it, empty air that looked like her awaited her. She stepped into the other half of the room and saw the door, it was at an angle that would have been impossible to see from the other side. She turned to see if the fey was still there but where it stood was a note, Nereth walked over to give it a read.

"I advise you stay in the castle and wait for rescue, our scouts are being followed by your brother and one other so you will have help -princess"

* * *

"Ary gym rlhvbv wmg vnb xov qsy?" crp xwcw slezz. Shf svntjmbc ing rlkr maxbhnh wlj tmvycurg ew mbz zyotvthh Keiud nhh qk mbz nsdsukrr yom bpeccctvv "D qfnuhjw nz exewp pt dgky brl tikv bgf".

Etr zyey wcqzikee lr g eji fuoi ymfuio unumf jntk lrpqem qev mkkhc "Zqx bost lp cicyjzxx blp tikv". Apn advbrujk fjkhcc vr ey oqv hugv q tkcbdq zne fljkyg plor pdu ljjgb viuj wtsl oycor "Df B rkk's"

* * *

Thus the chapter ends

Sorry for the lack of the chapter last week, Christmas you understand

also I was planning to keep the method of translation for the end of this arc but I might as well give it now as it's going to be used quite a bit over the next few chapters

Each character is Rotated by it's order, the first character is rotated once, the second twice etc: Bread becomes Cthei

This is used to symbolise the mad way the Raksha communicate while there is no creation born near

Update:

I have had reviews that people find the Fey speech annoying, to be fair I just added it because I thought it might be something fun to do for extra info.  
Since people hate it, it will likely change in the rewrite I do sometime in the future.

I am just having trouble thinking of something simpler to read that gets the same idea across, wingdings perhaps?

for reference I will keep it until the end of the current story arc, at that point I will just create a chapter which is all the translations.

Update 2:

To clear up misunderstanding, the cipher ticks forward with punctuation and spaces too so the phtase "The dragon-blooded exalted" becomes "Vki jyipyy-ozdeuww ztxjsee", the "" and - along with all the spaces also tick the counter forwards

For reference I wrote some code to translate them for me, I don't encode by hand


	20. Chapter 13

**The Castle of a thousand lies**

* * *

Shirou and Rai stood looking up at a towering gate before them, the gate that was made seemingly of pure gold.

This expedition up the mountain had been strange from the beginning, the moment they had entered the fog that covered the mountain they had found themselves on a smooth cobblestone road where each stone was a different colour, to their right stood the mountain wall as imposing as ever and on their left was an empty void as if the world ended right there. Behind them was the wall of fog that they had just walked through, Shirou had taken a look behind them but after the fog was the simple dirt track they had been walking before.

Shirou and Rai had decided to go on following the multi-hued path which they had found went on for seemingly ages, the path slowly twisting it's way up the side of the mountain, turning great circles to climb gradually higher. The actual journey up the mountain was much less tiring and took much less time than they expected however as the two of them reached the gate before more than five minutes had passed.

The gate itself was not merely decorated with gold, from what Shirou could see the gate that was the size of some castle walls was made of solid gold. The portcullis they would have to enter through seemed to be made of silver and it had two statues made of the same rainbow coloured stone as the path they were standing on. Shirou also noticed that the statues seemed to have swords sheathed at their belts.

"The first roadblock shows its face it seems" came a muttered comment from Rai and Shirou agreed, He didn't know much about the fey of this world but it seemed strange that they would give swords to statues. The statues were likely guards in some way, created to stop people from entering the home of the fey uninvited.

The two of them slowly approached the gate and the statues, they were almost to the entrance before one of the statues looked up casually to see them. "Who have we here then?" spoke the statue in a voice like a mountain rumbling. Shirou stood still while Rai spoke up "We seek entrance, what must be done to enter?", the other statue considered and Shirou saw that this one lacked a mouth. The first statue was considering too, looked to his partner and nodded "I assume you don't want us to simply call someone to meet with you as you are not a regular so we could give you a riddle, answer it correctly and we let you through", Rai nodded and agreed to the challenge.

 _"Only one colour, but not one size,_  
 _Stuck at the bottom, yet easily flies._  
 _Present in sun, but not in rain,_  
 _Doing no harm, and feeling no pain._  
 _What is it?"_

A few seconds passed, Shirou considered the riddle and then gave the answer.

* * *

Nereth crept through the strange twisting corridors of the castle, more than once she was forced to duck into a side room to avoid a passing guard.

She had been told that Shirou and Rai were coming so all she needed to do was find any other captives and help them escape with her.

Down a side passage and a few turns, she found a passage downwards. A few more seconds brought her to the dungeons where she had overheard the guards say that equipment from new captives was kept. In addition to collecting her knives she would be able to rescue anyone in here.

Strangely there was no one on guard here, she searched until she found her knives and opened the cage with one of her thin knifes. Quietly she called for those inside the cage to follow her which they did, those who lacked the will to stand she ordered others to carry.

* * *

Shirou and Rai stood on the other side of the gate amazed, the mountain was cut away to reveal a castle seemingly sculpted out of the mountain itself. They now saw the source of the strange stone that made the path they walked as it looked like the inside of the mountain possessed every hue imaginable.

As the two of them looked down they saw a garden between them and the castle itself, decorated not merely with plants but also crystalline structures that made the guarden shine many thousands of colours.

They began to walk to the castle through the garden. after a few seconds they could see a seat in the middle of the garden where a young girl was sitting, reading a book.

As they went to leave her to her book and walk on, the girl looked up at Shirou and spoke a few simple words "Hello bowman". The words were not very surprising, what was surprising was the fact that she spoke in Japanese.

Shirou looked at her and she smiled, tapping her book with a single finger. It was then that Shirou noticed something about her he had not before, like the weapons of the attackers before, her book was a noble phantasm or at least his senses told him so. She looked down at her book and continued speaking Japanese as if reading "A 'noble phantasm' huh", Shirou wondered if that book allowed her to read his thoughts.

While this all went on Rai was looking between the two of them, wondering what part of the conversation he was missing. Shirou turned to him to explain about his suspicions but when he looked back towards the girl, she was gone leaving nothing but a note written in a language he didn't know. Rai took it and read it, "It is written in old realm, it says that those we are looking for are inside but it is unlikely that we could save them unless 'The king' is killed".

The two of them looked to each other, Shirou didn't know why it would be required but he thought that if he was behind the attack on the party then some form of justice would be required.

* * *

The sidereal Cloaked Blessing looked at the two of them standing in the garden from up above on the side of the mountain. She had been following them for a while, acting the part of a simple captive was simple enough that she had found this place. Unfortunately her abilities were not very useful against the Raksha, creatures that existed outside of the loom of fate.

She sighed, the destiny of "Chloe" that she had used to approach the party in the first place was in poor condition, it would likely break within a few days and then she would have to report what she had found back to heaven.

What had she discovered really? That the boy had a strange soul? That the boy could perform strange charms that she had no knowledge of? Neither really answered the question of what sort of being the boy was, She had confirmed he had no exaltation and yet he possessed a power that could defeat an exalt. Rai was not a weak person, he was a fully trained exalted soldier. The boy, Shirou, had beaten him and now the two of them were working together easily.

Cloaked Blessing sighed and decided she would watch from here as long as she could, she would take these last few days to watch him do more of the impossible.

* * *

And thus this chapter ends

I originally planned to have the actual battle against the king in this part but as I want to keep most chapters to around 1000~ words and not too many more I am going to cut this off here. The other reason is I don't feel like writing a battle today.

The riddle is a fairly simple one, the only reason I didn't put the answer was in case you guys wanted to have a go at thinking about it.


	21. Chapter 14

**He who is a hero**

* * *

Shirou and Rai entered the castle and began to look around, they quickly noted however the the internals of the castle didn't connect in the way they expected. They could take the stairs up and yet end up on the floor below or they would walk around in circles while searching for a new way forward.

"We need to think of a new strategy" muttered Rai as for the third time they found a corridor that somehow looped back on itself without a single corner. Shirou was inclined to agree and the two began off in different directions, agreeing to meet back at the entrance in an hour.

Shirou passed by corridors of every colour as he searched for Nereth, eventually however he came to a set of ornate doors. The doors themselves were easily twice as large as Shirou thought they would need to be. The door was constructed out of the same rainbow stone that made up most of the castle but the stone was decorated with gold, silver and a material that looked and felt like a spider web.

He didn't know what was on the other side but he had no other lead that he could follow up on so he pushed the door open and stepped inside.

* * *

Rai was not searching for more than five minutes before he bumped into Nereth, they had actually bumped into each other as they were both running towards the same corner from different angles.

After a joyous reunion, Nereth explained about a group of prisoners she was leading out and Rai saw them standing awkwardly in the corridor she had been running down.

Rai set off again but this time for the entrance with the prisoners and Nereth in pursuit, they would get all of the prisoners out and then return to help Shirou.

Unknown to any of the escapees, they were being watched. The Rakasha known by her title of "Princess" smiled as she saw the side characters begin to get out of the castle, only one of these humans had truly captured her interest.

It was his memories she was currently using her black book to read, it was he that she had put on the path to defeat the king and it was she who had planned every event that had passed over the last few hours. All for two purposes, Her rise in rank and to obtain a new tool.

Internally she laughed at her game. Even if she failed the second objective, the first was almost done already.

With a moment of effort she appeared behind a door that lead to the throne room, not the one that the boy had entered through as that would have caused problems but another that opened behind the thrones.

She put her ear to the door to listen to the battle to come.

* * *

Shirou saw the room beyond the door and the only way he could think to describe it at first was "Madness, greed and vanity". The room was covered in expensive looking materials and there were mirrors and portraits on every surface, however everything was distorted in some way. From just what he could see from where he stood not only was some gold seemingly rusting but there was silver corroding as if copper. In addition each mirror was warped in some way causing the room to remind him of a hall of mirrors.

Sitting on a throne of black metal on the far side of the room was something that looked like a man, Shirou doubted it was a man however because of what the "Man" was wearing. On it's robe stood out countless faces, as if stitched together out of only faces. The crown he wore also looked like there were bones used to complete the design.

The Fey stood and spoke in a voice that demands that listeners obey, the voice was deep and resonating in the great hall that he was in. "State your name intruder" spoke the voice that felt like it rumbled the earth. Shirou thought it good sense to not tell a fey his name so he replied "I am a hero, here to save captives and slay monsters".

The fey laughed, the booming voice echoed for a while after but before it did end Shirou draw a simple iron sword from himself. The fey's laughing cut of abruptly when he saw Shirou trace the sword, now the fey looked as if he were looking upon some sort of animal in a zoo.

"Are you a half-rakasha by chance boy? No I doubt it, I don't sense the chaos in your blood" the king rose and thrust his hand to his waist " _In my hand appears a sword, It kills all it cuts and spares nothing, with it I shall take the head of this boy and use his skull as a drinking cup_ ". As the fey spoke Shirou saw fine threads nit together in the king's hands, the threads seemingly came from nowhere but by the time he had finished checking that the king held an ornate blade in his hands.

Shirou looked at the weapon and it had the same issue that he had previously with fey weapons, they were too chaotic for his reality marble to recognise. On the chance that the weapon had the abilities that the king had spoken of (Which reminded him of gae bolg except with his head instead of his heart) he would have to be careful and end this fight quickly.

Shirou lifted his iron sword and ever so slowly began walking towards the king, keeping his guard up as much as he could. As he walked he stepped on a paining that was lying on the floor and he heard a yell of pain from it. As he glanced towards it, the king saw his chance and charged to win in the first strike.

Shirou fell back and threw his sword, he had gotten out of the way of the king's cut, as his own weapon flew towards the king it cut into him but instead of the damage he expected the sword simply bounced away.

In his head he heard a feminine voice, the voice of the girl he had met earlier "Your weapon may have been iron but it's legend was not of being used to slay the fey, the iron you use and the iron that is bane to Raksha are not the same" it took Shirou a moment to find her meaning, his iron weaponry was not pure, it used some high quality steel in it's construction to make the blade more resistant to breakages. However it seemed that the fey were exclusively weak to pure iron.

The issue was it would take time to find a new iron weapon from his store, time he didn't have in the middle of battle. The voice spoke again within him "You don't need time, if you battle within the storeroom" again it took Shirou a moment (which he spent dodging another attack) to find her meaning, somehow she knew about him and his abilities, he suspected the book she carried, and she was telling him to activate his reality marble and simply search for a weapon while fighting.

"Not yet" he thought, he still didn't know the effects of activating a reality marble in creation. As the earth herself worked towards crushing it while he was home he shuddered to think of the forces here that were allied against him.

"I will help you" spoke the voice again, suddenly the girl from before stood besides him. The king was shocked "Princess, leave here now, he is my prey", the princess turned to Shirou and spoke pleadingly "Please, now". Shirou nodded.

 _I am the bone of my sword._  
 _Steel is my body and fire is my blood._

As he began the invocation the king quickly stood and swung his sword at Shirou's head.

 _I have created over a thousand blades._  
 _Unaware of loss,_  
 _Nor aware of gain._

However the princess got in the way of the attack with a sword of her own.

 _Withstood pain to create weapons, waiting for one's arrival._  
 _I have no regrets. This is the only path._

The princess shoved the king back and readied herself

 _My whole life was Unlimited Blade Works._

* * *

I think listeners know what music to put on now

* * *

Fire ran, tracing a circle of red flames around the outside of the room.

The princess looked to him with a beautiful smile on her face as the new reality set itself into shape.

A field of cracked earth, the occasional sprout of new life that started growing after the end of the grail war. The sky a glorious blue without a single cog to be seen. Countless swords and other weapons, stabbed into the ground.

The king looked around in shock as he muttered "This boy can perform sword shaping? I saw him though, he lacks the graces to perform shaping"

Shirou looked at him as he pulled a sword from the earth, "I have this power, I can create a world filled with every sword I have ever seen", Shirou raised the sword and ran towards the king. The sword he wielded was not iron but it didn't have to be. The sword shattered upon contact with the fey as if it had flesh made of stone, regardless the fey was wounded by the attack, it left a scar on it's neck.

Behind him, it looked like the princess was praying " _The hero stood upon the field of swords and saw his enemy, when the third cut landed the monster was dead_ " Shirou thought he knew what she was trying to do, the king could summon his sword by speaking about it, the princess was in turn trying to shape the battle to the outcome she desired.

Shirou threw down the handle of the broken sword he carried and picked up a strange lance object from the ground, in his mind it instantly became known to him. It was a weapon he had learned from Gilgamesh, a spear of lightning that was Indian in origin.

As the king ran towards him Shirou knocked away the point of his blade with the lance he carried and jumped back.

" _Come spear of the divine that calls down the lightning of gods_ " Shirou chanted the words to activate the weapon as he prepared to throw it " _Fly_ , Vajra".

The lance became a bolt of lightning that struck the king and sent the sword flying out of his hand.

Angrily the king ran towards his sword to recover it, as he did Shirou searched for the weapon he would use to land the third blow. He saw then, the perfect weapons.

As the king rushed towards Shirou for the killing blow Shirou took one of the twin swords he had found and threw it, Kanshou flew through the air with nothing to stop it. Just before it hit however the king knocked it's flight aside just enough to cause the sword to miss.

The king was dangerously close now and Shiro raised Bakuya to stop the attack, as the king attacked however his angle of attack changed and it passed right through his guard.

Shirou felt the sword cut through him, yet he refused to accept it. He was not dying here, he was going home and this blade wasn't going to kill him.

The king fell back as his sword shattered, leaving no wound on Shirou. The king and the princess knew the truth, the sword was a work of glamour and Shirou had just shattered that illusion and revealed what it really was.

The king prepared, he would take up a weapon from this boy's world when he attacked and defend himself. Shirou however did not attack, he held up Bakuya. The king didn't realise why until Kanshou, which had arced back to it's twin, plunged into his back.

The king's eyes went wide, then he fell. As he fell it seemed like he drifted to the ground like a feather, before shattering on the ground.

The reality marble broke and Shirou and the princess returned to the throne room.

* * *

And thus the chapter ends.

This was a long chapter compared to my normal size, in the original plan I actually had this chapter and the previous chapter in one section.

If you have anything to ask simply send me a message and if you want me to reply to a review you need to have an account for me to reply too.

Anyway first use of UBW during the story. I feel like I didn't write it very well but tell me what you think.


	22. Chapter 15

**Parting of ways**

* * *

Shirou and the girl stood in the now empty throne room, weapons were scattered across the ground that seemed to be some blades that somehow stuck around after the end of Unlimited blade works. The room as a whole seemed somehow less than it was before, the room's colours had become dull and the throne was destroyed on the floor.

The Princess nodded to him with a face of seriousness and the shadow of joy. He still knew next to nothing about this girl but Shirou knew that if he had been a help to her then that was enough. She turned to leave through another door and as she didn't seem to wait for him; Shirou turned the other way to continue searching the castle for his friends.

It didn't take him very long, after only a few moments he was back at the entrance. Rai and Nereth were there too along with a group of people wearing cloth sheets. Together they all left, keeping an eye out for anyone who would stand in their way. The journey to the exit was uneventful however and they all left in peace.

* * *

Cloaked blessing stood up and left at about the same time, she had a report to write and a destiny to be rid of. She knew it would be a few days travel before she reached the nearest gates to Yu-shan so she had plenty of time to compose her thoughts.

Her investigation had both revealed much and yet revealed nothing at all. Rather than discover the truth of the boy, her observation had only raised more questions. Here was a boy who, without much issue, could defeat a celestial lion. His abilities also made little sense, summoning artefacts out of the air was possible for powerful exalts but for a mortal to be able to call on that many artefacts was impossible. His most recently shown ability was also curious; some form of wyld shaping sorcery, the ability to create a world of swords.

Last and most distressing of all was the nature of his soul. Whether they be mortals or exalts, humans in creation had at least two souls. The higher soul which governed rational thought and could live on past death as a sentient ghost and the lower soul which held the emotional and instinctive thoughts and became a mere beast after death. Shirou had only one soul however.

Considering his recently shown abilities would it be strange for him to be some form of Rakasha that had somehow obtained a true (but not complete) soul. A Rakasha who was an expert swordsman and could create swords out of the wyld at will? She had never heard him require feeding in the Rakasha style however, he ate as mortals ate.

Could he be one of the mountain folk then, they were known for their craftsmanship. The issues with that are that they do have the two soul structure of mortals and they are bound by the ancient oaths to obey the exalted. Shirou had disobeyed the dragon-blooded multiple times, mostly (as far as she could see) to hide is origin.

Last is that strange feeling she got from him when she had first met him. The feeling had faded with time yet he had reminded her of the Elementals that she had encountered in Yu-shan. What would he be if related to the Elementals? Perhaps he was some work of Gaia, created during her eternal journey in the wyld?

Regardless she had not discovered much about him at all. If her investigations had been more in-depth she might have discovered something, she had not trained in investigation charms before but due to her failure in understanding Shirou now might be the time to finally learn them.

That would be for later though, for now she had to mentally compose her report.

* * *

The princess stood in her room composing herself. Her date with the hero went just as planned, she doubted he thought of it as a date but it was fun regardless. With the king now dead she was second in line for the throne.

She raised the dagger in her hand and thought "By the end of today I will be the one in charge".

She called for her servant to inform the queen of the news. The queen likely knew of the king's death already but she needed the queen to make a grab for power before she acted.

Again she looked at the dagger in her hand, stolen from the hero's "Reality marble" the dagger's distorted blade glinted strangely in the light. Her date was well worth it, not only had she been able to shape her father's death and make it stick with the hero's help but she had obtained a powerful weapon.

She doubted the hero understood the nature of his weapons as well as she did, from what she read in his memories he understood the basics but this was so much more that simply recreating weapons of old. He retold the stories of the past and gave them new form. Within each weapon was it's story, written within the make of the sword and ready to shout itself out into the world.

Take this dagger for instance, it told the story of betrayal. It was so easy to read, the story of how a princess betrayed everyone close to her for the love of a hero. A love that had been forced upon her by a goddess. Her hero then betrayed her too, causing her despair. She could read the entire story so easily.

The Rakasha could create weapon's out of dreams and chaos. They had created, for example, daggers that told the story of sleep. The hero's weapons were different from that. A glamour weapon was a false thing most of the time, merely an illusion that occurs if you believe that it will. His noble phantasms told the story complete, disbelief didn't stop them.

The princess thought of him as her servant returned to inform her that the queen had announced how she would take the throne and how the princess had been asked to come swear her loyalty.

The princess did go to the throne room, as she was asked to kneel however, she looked up and smiled. She ran forward and let the knife sink into the queen.

So it was done, the princess became the new queen and so she took a new name. She decided to create one based of the hero's memories, She would be the queen that ruled as king; Saber Morgan.

In one hand she held the book containing the memories of another world, in the other hand she held the "True legend" she had obtained.

* * *

End of chapter

Sorry for the late upload, just needed to wrap up the last story arc


	23. Chapter 16

Heavenly stars

* * *

A few days had passed since the group left the castle of the fey, since then they had been travelling as normal after regaining the carriages. The land they travelled through was getting flatter and they were seeing more rivers and wider ones at that.

Nereth had told Shirou that they would reach the port in under a week from now and they would finally be able to travel to the blessed isle to begin research on how to get him home via the Heptagram, the realm's greatest magic academy.

Shirou was glad that the constant travel would soon stop and that he would finally be able to find out the path back to Rin and Sakura.

Not that the journey was all bad, he considered Nereth and Rai friends now, while he did once think of Shinji as a friend too he had reason originally, in truth he just didn't want the two nobles to turn out to be as bad as Shinji did.

Thinking of his friends in this world he felt something missing, a face here and a word there. There was someone else in the travelling party he knew and yet he couldn't remember them. When he thought of it he remembers that they joined the party for some reason while they originally walked alone.

While deep in thought he heard Nereth ask "What has you thinking so hard Shirou?". With that his mind went blank and he lost his train of thought.

* * *

Cloaked blessing stood at a set of Yu-shan gates. They stood tall and imposing, the doors themselves were made of orichalcum with starmetal writing covering the surface. The arch was made of all 5 colours of jade and within the arch flowed a small amount of moonsilver, ever moving throughout the arch.

She herself actually lacked the power to open the door herself so she said a quick prayer "I am here on official business for the bureau of destiny, please open this door" to the celestial lions that would be on the other side of the door. A few seconds passed and the door slowly opened revealing a pair of celestial lions ready to guide her into the city.

After stepping into the corridor made of shining adamant, she looked back as the door closed behind her. In her head she said a small farewell to the travelling party before following the celestial lions to the other side of the corridor to the great adamant gate on the other side.

The celestial lions together asked for the gate to open and so it did, Cloaked blessing stepped back into Yu-shan proper. She said another quick prayer and called down one of the many clouds in the sky to act as her transport. It would take about half an hour to reach the bureau of destiny but she first headed to her home to write up her report.

* * *

A few hours later she handed her report into the bureau of destiny and had it added to the list of things that had to be read by the higher up sidereals.

As she didn't need to stay here anymore she choose to walk the city to relax.

The city of Yu-shan offered many things but most were available in creation proper, the advantage that Yu-shan had was that everything was of the highest quality. Cloaked blessing bought a box containing a few small cakes and sat in one of Yu-shan's many parks slowly eating them while enjoying the relaxation.

The park she choose had been designed by ancient sidereals, ancient solars and the gods working together and she could see the marks each had left; the opulence of the garden with gold being used where they could have used any metal and the street being designed specifically by the solars to make walking on it soothing for the feet, the flower arrangements and the water features calmed and soothed those that saw them and were likely arranged by the sidereals of her own caste and the gods worked to carry out their plan with no flaw, ensuring that the park would be perfect.

She sometimes thought of what greater wonders might have been constructed if the solars had not gone mad. But she agreed with one of her superiors when they had told her that it was good that they sealed away the mad solars to stop them doing further damage.

Now that the solars had been freed from the prison they were kept in they were returning and causing new issues such as the "bull of the north", A solar that was conquering the north and had an eye on the blessed isle.

As she finished off her cakes she stood up to continue walking, after a few minutes she actually ran into her friend Marbell. They greeted each other and walked together. Marbell was the first to ask "So was the boy actually some sort of demon?" Cloaked blessing looked at her and muttered "Do you think I would have let him live if I were sure of that?"

Marbell chuckled "I suppose your right Chloe, what was he then?"

Cloaked blessing looked towards the gate she had used to enter Yu-shan (She couldn't see it but she remembered which way it was) and confided "I don't know what he was, I would guess some sort of Rakasha with a soul but that feels like the wrong answer." she then continued and told Marbell what she had discovered.

Marbell let out a whistle and agreed that Shirou was confusing.

* * *

A few hours later Cloaked blessing was re-entering the bureau of destiny to see if they had a new job for her.

Quickly she found a piece of paper placed in her hands from her superior and she gave it a read through;

"To: Cloaked Blessing, Sidereal agent of the bureau of destiny, member of the committee on the wyld, member of the committee on god-blooded, member of the committee on malfeas, etc

You are to apprehend the mortal or potential other being known as "Shirou" and take him to Yu-shan without causing an issue

You have been given this mission as you know him best and likely can apprehend him without causing an issue

From: Floren Yent, head of the committee on unknown mysteries"

After finishing the order she reread them, she had heard of Floren Yent, she was a sidereal who kept many secrets as her caste required. Likely Shirou had been put under her authority while the bureau figures out what he is.

Cloaked blessing nodded and folded the orders, she would need to find where the carriage is now and create a new destiny to allow her to get close. If this could help discover the true nature of Shirou then she would do it.

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

So this chapter is basically just more detail for Yu-shan and to give Chloe more screen time

For those that know exalted; Chloe has the beliefs of the bronze faction but has yet to actually join them

Basically this chapter's ending is here to tell you "Hey be prepared to give a mysterious newcomer next chapter Chloe's voice for your internal reading"


	24. Chapter 17

**Starlit Meeting**

* * *

Shirou relaxed, they were at a small port town on the west edge of the scavenger lands. They had arrived late last night and were staying at the classiest inn the town had to offer.

Shirou did insist that he didn't need one of the expensive rooms, he could have stayed with the servants in another inn that had it's work cut out for it to hold all of the servants and other travellers in the travelling party. However the exalted had insisted he stay in the same building as them, because of this he was staying in the room opposite the rooms of Nereth and Rai.

The time was mid morning and they would likely be staying for a few days while they wait for the ship they had called for to arrive in port.

Shirou decided that he wanted to walk through town, just staying in his room for the entire day would just be wasteful. He could pick up some ingredients in town and get access to the inn's kitchens. He liked the sound of passing a day like that.

* * *

During the long journey that he had been on in the travelling party he had not only learned High realm but more recently he had learned Riverspeak, not only was it the local language but according to the servant he had learned it from it was also the language of trade all over creation. As such he could bargain with the shopkeepers himself.

He had never had to haggle much during his life before, he had had to argue (mostly when Rin had a "clever" idea that he was sure would have gone wrong) but haggling was fairly new. Regardless his shopping went remarkably well considering he didn't understand the currency of creation very well.

The money was paper scrip but then when you need higher value you are expected to use solid jade coins. For a second he imagined if on earth they used solid gold coins, someone could just clip bits of gold off the coin and make solid bars of gold. When he had discussed with Rai why people didn't just clip pieces off of the jade coins he had laughed and explained to Shirou that jade was a magical material and thus nearly indestructible, any tool that could take small amounts of a jade coin would be incredibly expensive already in addition the action of destroying or otherwise removing jade from the economy is highly illegal.

Luckily for Shirou all of the people he was dealing with used the jade scrip making his life much easier. after a couple of hours he came back to the inn and after negotiating with the inn's staff he was allowed to use the kitchens to make lunch for himself and the exalts.

In the past he had been evasive when asked about earth when Nereth or Rai had asked about it, one thing that he had told them however was of the food he could make. While much of it was similar there were differences. Those in the realm apparently ate a lot of rice, most of the food they had brought on their journey was rice. He wanted them to try something new so instead he decided to cook something he learned when Rin basically dragged him to the clock tower to help her with some experiments.

He took the fish he had bought, seasoned it, covered it in a mix of egg and flour and fried it to give it a crispy coating. At the same time he cut up some potatoes and fried them too.

He brought the completed fish and chips to the others and they had a pleasant meal together.

* * *

Later Shirou was looking out of the window in his room, the sun was setting and he was thinking about Rin and Sakura. He had not seen them in months and didn't know what they were doing, were they ok?

He expected that one of them would have calmed Taiga so she wouldn't call the police or arrange a manhunt for him through her family but how were they handling his disappearance?

Perhaps Rin had been pulled to Creation too and dumped somewhere else, in that case he worried for Sakura. If the two people that kept her stable went missing was she panicking, he hoped that she was safe and calm.

As he worried he heard a knock at his door and a letter was slid under his door. He picked up and read the address of the letter, it was addressed to him in high realm. He saw that a note had been with the letter when it was slid under the door it read "This letter was delivered here a few minutes ago by a messenger".

Shirou opened the letter carefully and read it.

"Dear Shirou Emiya  
I am waiting for you outside of town  
I have information you might be interested in"

When he had read the letter he turned it over to see if there was any more of the message but it ended abruptly.

Curiously Shirou set the letter down and picked up the robe that Nereth had sent him, (She had said that "When going to the blessed isle you will be counted among my retainers thus you should wear clothes bearing my family's symbol") the robe itself was of good quality and he was thankful for the fact he no longer had to borrow spare sets of clothes from other servants whenever his own clothes needed washing.

He put on the robe to avoid the chill of the cold evening and left his own note for Nereth about where he was going. He then left the inn quietly and walked down the street that led out of town to the east.

After a few minutes of walking he head someone call his name, the voice was soft but firm and he turned to look for the source of the voice.

Standing to the side of the road behind him was what appeared to be a beautiful woman wearing a heavy cloak and a mask made of cloth that covered her mouth. The woman beckoned him over with her hand.

"What information do you have" asked Shirou as he slowly approached her.

He thought that he saw a smile behind her mask as she replied "I will need you to come with me to tell you my information, if you would follow me?"

With a slight bow she turned to walk away. Quickly Shirou had to decide whether to follow the woman, as he thought he felt the answer come to him. He would follow her to wherever she led.

* * *

Cloaked Blessing led Shirou towards the gate that would allow her to bring him to Yu-shan, she had been forced to use magic to force his choice to follow her but it would be worth it.

She could use this time to convince him to follow her all the way. The charm she had used only forces a decision between set outcomes, while Shirou followed now he might ask questions or reconsider his choice. Before he did that she would need to convince him to stay, if only she had more skill with this she might have been able to use a charm to make him treat her like his master.

She had to work with what she had however so as he followed her she started up a conversation, it was merely small talk at this point but she hoped to take him by surprise so this was a good way to start. She asked about his home but he was evasive as he always was on those subjects so she instead asked about his time with the dragon-blooded exalted.

The conversation was going on quite nicely when she saw her opening, he asked her again what information she had for him. She decided to risk it and replied "A way for you to get home".

Cloaked blessing was not a very good liar, Shirou was not particularly good at spotting lies.

Carefully Shirou asked "Really?", she could hear the note of hope in his voice and she leaped for it.

"Yes you can go home after you learn this knowledge" she poured her essence into her words to make them supernaturally appealing, she would make up for her poor ability lie with her charms.

* * *

In truth Shirou was still suspicious of the woman, her words were compelling but he didn't want to abandon Nereth and Rai. The two of them had asked for his help and based on what he knew of the current succession crisis they were honest about wanting his help.

He felt that this woman was misleading him in some way so he had to try and pick apart her words.

"What do you know about my home?" he asked softly, he had told very few people in creation a little about earth. He doubted anyone could guess much more than what he had said unless they actually had access to a way for him to get home.

The woman looked to him and after a moment said "You want to know what I know about your home, I am fairly sure that you would know more than me about that"

Shirou shut his eyes for a moment, she had dodged the question. She didn't know anything about his home.

He stopped, the woman looked round again to see him "What's the problem?" she asked casually.

Shirou shook his head "You don't have any information for me" he looked behind him continuing "I am going to continue the path that the other's told me about, I am going to trust in them and their magic academy having the information I need"

* * *

Cloaked Blessing cursed under his breath, she hadn't wanted to bring him in with force but this wasn't her fault.

They had sent a young Sidereal with little social training to talk someone into coming with them who wouldn't remember them. Honestly she felt that the orders she had been given were kind of stupid.

As the boy turned to leave she dropped her robe revealing her tight combat uniform and ran at him channelling essence through her, she would have to knock him out quickly as she still didn't know all that he could do.

She struck him once in the back and once in the legs, empowering the first blow with her essence to increase the damage she would do. Shirou fell to the ground and rolled to face her.

Those two attacks had clearly hurt, she was lucky that he hadn't been able to turn and face her quickly enough to stop her blows.

She spoke quietly to him "Come quietly and I won't have to hurt you anymore".

In response he shook his head and began muttering, a second later his hands held the two swords that she had once seen him practising with while she was travelling with him. He looked to here with a determined look in his eyes, A look that said that it wouldn't back down against any threat.

In that moment she knew, until she broke his spirit he would keep fighting all the way to Yu-shan. Luckily she had the perfect charm for it. She had wasted a lot of essence already and if you were to look closely she had the symbol of Venus glittering blue on her forehead, this was a sign she was being forced to use her spare essence, much more and she would light up like a bonfire.

She had to end the fight quickly so she meditated and took a stance that spoke of grim detachment, the stance was similar to the stance of a executioner. As she took her stance Shirou ran up to her to land a cut with one of his blades. As Cloaked Blessing was channelling her essence towards setting up her stance she couldn't spare any focus to deal with deflecting his blow, so she was forced to back away. The tip of his swords ripped through the skin covering her stomach and caused her a spike of pain as it drew blood.

However her stance was now complete and she struck towards Shirou intending to land a blow on his body, because of the charm she used she could drain away his courage with every blow that lands. As her caste mark burned brightly and a soft blue aura rose around her due to her overuse of essence, the blow she intended to land was knocked away by the boy's other blade.

Again she dove to hit the boy, using yet more essence to increase the speed of her attacks. The boy kept parrying her blows and finally delivered another attack of his own, cutting up her shoulder

Cloaked Blessing was amazed, within roughly half a minute the boy had landed two blows on her without letting her strike even once. She had thought that it would have been impossible for a mortal to be this skilled

She was running low on essence so she had to make a decision, Should she continue the battle?

Winning was within her power but if she used her essence to secure victory would she be able to get Shirou to come with him, her stance would ensure that he was basically a coward when she won but if she had burned up all of her essence he could just run from her and get away.

She made her decision quickly, another bit of essence burned to fuel the charm and she stepped away and performed a hand sign.

Fate twisted, rewriting "What happened" with "What could have happened"

* * *

Shirou stood alone in a field.

He had been out here to receive some information, the informant arrived and he followed them but then after he said that he would leave they allowed him too.

He had fell over badly and hurt his legs and back.

That was what had happened, he began walking back to town to rest and get back to Nereth and Rai.

* * *

And thus ends this long chapter

Cloaked blessing was about as good at martial arts as Souichirou and she enhance her combat with charms basically meaning that for Shirou this fight was a lot like the time he fought him while he had caster's enhancements

The charm that was used right at the end was Avoidance Kata, a charm that allows rewriting a decision to do with a fight. Basically Cloaked Blessing used the charm to say "I don't want to be in this fight anymore" and fate twisted to grant that.

Normally Avoidance Kata can only be used during the first two turns of combat (About 10 seconds) but as the first two turns of social combat (which Avoidance kata does work with) could last up to 10 minutes I decided that it could undo this fight for narrative reasons.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter


	25. Interlude 3

**Ruby**

* * *

Rin didn't want to do this, she acknowledged that this was possibly the only way left short of putting effort into repairing the greater grail and using Illyasviel's last gift to access the root. Regardless that was still tempting when compared to this.

She and Sakura sat in the living room of the Matou mansion, Rin staring daggers at the chest they had pulled out of her leftover materials that were stashed here, Sakura looking curiously between her sister and the box to determine what she was so angry at.

Rin sighed with displeasure and stepped over to the chest, she knelt before the lock and pressed her hand against it. She sent a small jolt of power from her family crest to break the sealing spell that she had placed on the chest and slowly went to unlock the chest with a set of keys she had picked up from her supplies. Seconds passed slowly as she slowly unlocked the chest before finally Rin put the keys away.

"Sakura, stand back a few steps" Rin softly ordered, She didn't want to risk the item within the chest doing something stupid.

Slowly the chest was opened. When it stood open on it's own and wouldn't close if she let go, Rin took a deep breath and placed her hand into the chest, searching out the item she knew was there. It only took a few moments to find it, her fingers encountered the grip and Rin recoiled. After calming down for a moment she put on a pair of gloves she had prepared earlier and reached for the object again.

Sakura was curious of what in the chest was so important and would cause fear in Rin? It was something made by Kaleidoscope so it would likely use second magic in some way but apart from the jewel sword blueprints she had never heard of him giving out mystic codes to the Tohsaka family.

Rin slowly grabbed the object by the grip and slowly lifted it out of the chest, as she did she felt it trying to draw in magic power into itself. Rin knew that as long as she didn't put her blood on it, it couldn't wake up fully but she worried what might happen should it partially wake up on it's own.

Sakura looked at the wand in her sister's hand, she saw Rin hold it as if it was some evil tool. Briefly Sakura compared it to how she would likely hold a crest worm if forced too and with that thought she began worrying what exactly Rin was holding.

Rin placed the wand on a table and started casting as many binding spells as she knew, she didn't want this thing to run around on it's own again. When finally she was satisfied with the bindings she took of the gloves and used her dagger to prick her finger before touching the blood to the wand on the table.

A second past, Sakura was trying to choose whether to ask Rin about what she was doing when a shudder passed through the wand on the table and Sakura decided to stay quiet and see what was going on.

Finally Rin saw the slight struggling of the wand that means it was trying to move and her bindings restricted it. She forced a smile before speaking "Welcome back Ruby, I hope you are well" the second part was a very poor lie but pleasantries were a good way to start things.

Sakura was startled as a childish girl's voice emanated from the wand "[[Is that little Rin?]]", Rin forced herself to speak again "Yes it is Ruby, I have a job for you finally".

A laugh emanated from the wand as Rin slowly explained the problem (She left out things that the kaleidostick had no needs of knowing).

Finally the wand went silent as if considering the problem before asking "[[He has part of your crest Rin? I wonder what sort of boy could get you to trust them with that?]]" the tone of voice was teasing and Sakura looked away trying not to imagine when Shirou had been with Rin like that. Sakura didn't have to call on a specific memory as she wasn't in the house when that was going on, she had been having a mental breakdown that could have destroyed the world.

The wand spoke again a few dozen seconds later after teasing Rin about the other parts of the story that she hadn't been able to hide "[[As long as he bears your family crest I can find him, your plan (for once) is not awful!]]".

As Sakura sighed in relief Ruby stopped giggling for a moment "[[Is someone (kinder than Rin) back there, I'm afraid the binding spells on me currently make me blind.]]"

Rin looked annoyed before nodding to Sakura who cleared her throat and politely said "How do you do Ruby, I am Sakura... Tohsaka Sakura" The wand was silent for a few seconds before 'whispering' loud enough to carry throughout the room "[[Rin, I thought that your sister was sold of to the Makiri family?]]"

There was a moment of silence while Rin clumsily explained that as the Makiri family had died out apart from Sakura and thus they had nothing to teach her she had been graciously (To be fair they chatted once before agreeing) offered the chance to return to the Tohsaka family.

Ruby chuckled for a moment before asking Sakura to join Rin in directly talking to her. Ruby introduced herself using every dramatic title she could think of (To be fair she had maybe 2 or 3 titles, she made them sound dramatic) and Sakura listened calmly wondering why Rin was show scared of the kaleidostick.

Finally Rin released the bindings on Ruby so she could calculate the way to get to Shirou. As she was calculating Sakura turned to her sister and asked "Why were you so afraid of Zelretch's proposal, this is working fine". The words were not even out of her mouth before Ruby started swearing "[[You can't be serious Rin I had assumed you had decided to use me on your own (A wise choice as I am amazing) but now I hear that my devil of a creator told you to use me]]"

Rin looked sheepish and outraged at the same time as Ruby continued "[[I finished the calculation but now I think you don't deserve my power!]]" with that she flew over to Sakura and asked in a charming voice "[[Can you form a contract with me lady (Much better than Rin) Sakura?]]"

Apparently just touching a blood relative was enough for Ruby to form a bond with Sakura instead of Rin (A good reason why truly intelligent mystic codes are a horrible idea) and with a great flash of light Sakura disappeared. Ruby hummed to herself as Rin looked on devastated.

Ruby looked at her expression and giggled "[[I sent her to the dimension you two were looking for, I did what I was told to do by my master and now you can't contract me until you apologise]]"

Rin looked at the wand and tried to decide between more wood for her fire or to use Ruby as a battery after destroying any sense of mind still left in that piece of firewood

* * *

After the bright flash of light Sakura found herself somewhere different, instead of being in her own town she appeared to be in the middle of a desert. She had no supplies, no spare water and was on a sandy plane with the sun beating down from overhead.

She thought she now understood why Rin disliked the Kaleidostick.

* * *

End of Interlude

Anyway, so Ruby is out and has already made Rin's life hell.

In addition Sakura is now in creation, the south specifically (Though anyone who knows Exalted could have said that the moment I wrote desert)

Timeline wise, Sakura entered creation between chapter 1 and 2

I tried to do the brackets that Ruby has in Fate/hollow ataraxia but the signs used in HA couldn't be used in apparently

Also as alluded to in the text Rin gave part of her family crest to Shirou (as per UBW) to combat Dark Sakura, Another major difference between normal Heaven's feel and the backstory here was that the team going after the greater grail was much bigger (including Saber, Rider and a crippled Berserker). The thing basically went a lot better than in pure Heaven's Feel but they never made the jewel sword (They didn't think they had the time).


	26. Chapter 18

In the sands of the south

* * *

Sakura stood alone in the endless expanse of desert all around her. The sky was a clear blue with nothing to block the sun's rays and the air was hot enough to make Sakura long for something to drink.

That mystic code of her sister's had brought her here and it seems to have just dumped her somewhere inhospitable.

She had once read a book about what to do when stranded in a desert so she took it's advice and walked to the shadow of a large sand dune to protect herself from the sun that was overhead. She knew that she would have to look out for a water source first or she would be dead by tomorrow.

She looked around and felt something else other than the heat of the day, her magic circuits felt like they were burning, the mana here was incredibly pure and plentiful.

An idea crossed her mind then, if this world had a large amount of mana then perhaps she would be able to push her magecraft a bit further.

Rin and Shirou had taught her to use some of her magecraft in a way that worked for her, but she still had problems in most areas. The Matou magecraft had made her used to absorbing mana so she was unused to use it to create other effects. Because of this, her spells would tend to be weaker due to her subconsciously hording her supplies.

However in this world she would be able to put more mana into a spell to make it more likely to succeed.

She focused, the mana burning within her. She called to any water beneath the ground to come to her.

She waited a few seconds before a thin stream of water rose to her, it was less than a cup full but it would keep her hydrated for now.

Only after finishing the spell did she realise her mistake, her magic circuits still burned from wielding such pure mana and it was agony.

She fell into her patch of shade while waiting for her body to calm down.

The sun was beginning to descend in the sky by the time she was able to stand again. As if to insult her efforts she realised that she was dehydrated again.

Rather than call water to her again she decided to look for an oasis or something now that it was getting later in the day.

She walked for a few miles before seeing anything but sand, during the slow hike she thought of Shirou and Rin, were they ok?

Her worries grew as the day went on as she didn't know if Shirou could survive in this desert, a moment later the rational part of her brain (which sounded like Rin) replied that he didn't necessarily come to this desert and even if he did, he had given her the book on desert survival so he should be fine.

She began to notice that dry and cracked earth was replacing the desert sand in places and continuing on she started seeing small patches of dry grass before finally cresting a small hill and seeing a small lake surrounded by grass and trees.

The sun was setting as she walked towards the oasis, as she walked she saw a few tents and desert caravans on the opposite side of the lake. She made the decision to get water first and then see if she could communicate with the people of this desert.

When she finally reached the water's edge she almost fell in her hurry to drink, the water tasted fresh and cool to her heat addled senses and she fell back to lie on the wet and slightly grassy lake edge.

There she lay for some time, resting properly for the first time in a few hours. Her thoughts were empty as she rested, she just looked at the slowly darkening sky.

* * *

She awoke to a boot pressed against her side, her eyes shot open and she looked at the man standing above her.

He spoke to her in a strange language, his tone sounded aggressive so Sakura shrank back from the water's edge, she could see as she moved that it was night time proper now and she was freezing.

The man yelled at her again but she just kept shaking her head, trying to get meaning across to him.

He looked at her and beckoned her to follow, she did so and he led her to the fire that a few of his group were keeping watch at.

As he spoke to the others on watch Sakura tried to appraise what sort of people they were, nomads or traders probably.

* * *

For the sake of readers I will translate the conversation between the travellers;

The man who had found Sakura first gave a report "[While on patrol I found this young woman by the water's edge, she was passed out. She doesn't know Firetongue, could she be someone from the blessed isle?]"

One of the two on guard looked up from the dice game he was playing to look at Sakura "[Her clothes look vaguely noble, do you think she might be from one of the noble houses but she wasn't blessed by the dragons?]"

The third turned his own eyes to Sakura and spoke "[If she was then she would know High realm, do we have anyone in our band that can speak high realm?]"

The second one looked back to the dice and muttered "[We could just capture her and sell her, she doesn't have anyone with her. Both the guild and a few others would take her as a slave]"

The other two turned to him, no one wanted to be the one to say "[We do need the money]" even if it was true.

* * *

Sakura was allowed to sit on one of the spare chairs and a guard offered Sakura some form of broth to eat, she considered refusing but her hunger made the decision for her. It tasted something like a beef broth, it was very salty but not so salty as to be hard to eat.

What Sakura didn't know is that a sleeping drug had been put in the food, less than 10 minutes after eating Sakura was unconscious

The three men looked to each other with sad eyes, they would have to run this past the boss of course but they doubted that any other option would be chosen.

* * *

By the time Sakura woke up she was inside a cage with iron bars, next to her was a piece of bread and a small flask of water. The cage seemed to be inside of of the caravan she had seen before, she could feel it moving through the desert but she couldn't see outside to check.

The shade was a mercy but being caged was not. Silently she cursed those that caught her, they had offered food and warmth to her as bait for a trap.

She didn't know what had happened to Shirou or what would happen to her, for a moment she felt the absolute terror of being trapped. The cage had never been this literal before but her old house was a cage while Zouken was in charge and the cage she now sat in reminded her of that.

* * *

Time passed and eventually the moving ceased, her water was refilled and she was given more bread. The man who bought these to her was the man who had first found her, she saw sadness in his eyes and saw that he didn't really want to do this to her.

Regardless he was doing it, keeping her a captive. To be sold into slavery perhaps? She would escape using her magecraft and look again for Shirou.

This was all only a setback to finding him, No matter who she was sold to she would escape.

The moving began again and Sakura's thoughts grew calmer as she planned many ways she could escape from this cage.

However before she put this plan into action she began to smell a sea breeze, had they travelled all the way to the sea in a few days?

A few more hours and the caravan stopped. A different man, one she didn't know entered the caravan to look at her and left. She heard talking outside and the sound of money changing hands before four men stepped into the caravan to lift her cage by a set of chains out into the sun.

As she had thought, they were by the sea, it stretched out to as far as she could see, when she looked towards land she could see dried grass and low hills.

A woman wearing very little, her body covered in detailed scaring walked up to her cage and put her wrists together as if telling Sakura to do the same.

As she did so the cage was opened and Sakura was allowed to step outside, before she could run however a rope was bound around her wrists.

She was led, kicking and screaming onto a small boat that rowed them out to a small island not far from the shore.

Eventually one of her 'New owners' got bored of her screaming and ordered one of his men to knock her out, all Sakura felt was a sharp pain and then blackness

* * *

End of chapter

Originally I planned to due a few more Shirou chapters first but seeing as she just got to creation I decided to give Sakura a chance in the spotlight.

Timeline wise, this chapter happened at around the same time that Cloaked blessing joined Shirou's party. There is a time disconnect between the two worlds.

Do guys think the next chapter should be back to Shirou or more of what is actually going on with Sakura? (Hint hint: it involves cults, demons and (for Sakura) traumatic flashbacks to Zouken's treatment of her)

For reference I don't hate Sakura, you will see where her plot is going after a few more chapters around her.


	27. Chapter 19

Flames, passion, acid, darkness

* * *

Sakura awoke in a jail cell, with a nasty head-ache.

She recalled struggling against her captors before being knocked out. Then they must have moved her to this cell she currently inhabited.

The cell was bordered by bars on one side and by rough rock walls on all other sides thus implying that this cell was carved out of the earth. The bars showed a corridor covered in heavy shadows, the only light source was a single candle sitting a few meters outside of her cage. down the corridor she could just barely make out more bars, implying more cells were just out of sight.

On that last point she heard soft sobbing coming from the darkness in the corridor. If there were more prisoners could she learn something from them? She didn't speak the language but clearly they were emotionally distraught.

Sakura thought the voice sounded like a girl a few years younger than her, so they were likely kidnapped too and possibly in a way similar to her.

Even if she couldn't communicate with the girl she might be able to calm them down, maybe then they could make some sort of plan together.

Sakura calmed herself and started slowly drawing in mana, unlike the first day she was now used to the high concentration of mana in this world so as long as she cast slowly she was safe, eventually it was likely that she would be able to cast as she was able to before or even much better but she would suffice with this for now.

She slowly cast her spell, then she extended one hand out to her left, casting a shadow of her arm onto the wall behind her thanks to the candle's light. Her shadow slowly began moving on it's own, swimming on the ground like a fish before leaving her cage.

This was a spell she had learned while working with Rin, it was a more controlled version of the cursed boundary layer that her darker personality used. While it couldn't be used in massive numbers it could pick pockets and she could cast absorption magic through it. Rin had compared it to the difference between Shioru's projection and tracing spells, this and her cursed boundary layer might share a starting point but they were very different spells.

her shadowy hand made it's way over to the other cells, hunting the life of the crying girl.

When it found her Sakura saw a quick image of what it saw there in the darkness, it was like a photo negative. The girl was huddled up in the corner, Sakura shuddered for a moment, the girl wasn't wearing any clothes and she was covered in small scars that look to have been burned into her skin for some bizarre tattoo.

Slowly the hand crept closer to the girl before coming to rest no more that a meter from her huddled form, Sakura then muttered under her breath and the words emerged from the shadow "Don't worry, I will keep you safe". Sakura spoke in the most motherly voice she could to try and calm the girl but the moment the shadow started talking the girl let out a quiet shriek before burying herself back between her arms and legs and trying to hide.

Sakura slowly pulled her shadow back, her heart sinking. She could not help the girl without knowing the language she spoke so she was forced to listen to the sobs without a way she could help

* * *

Time passed and eventually robed figures came to the jail and took the girl out. The girl shrieked and tried to struggle but the robed figures were too strong and they pulled her back into the corridor.

Sakura took the opportunity where it came, she reached out with her shadows and took the keys to the jails from the guard. When they had left with the girl Sakura stood and used the keys to unlock her cell.

Silently (or as close as she could manage) she crept through the cave, searching for an exit. She didn't know the way out as she had been knocked out when they had dragged her in.

Eventually she saw a bright opening before her which she quickly walked too. unfortunately it didn't lead outside but to a large chamber.

When inside the chamber she heard chanting and (realising she was on some sort of catwalk) she looked down. The girl that had been in the jail cell was bound and gagged, tied to a rock in the centre of the cavern.

They were performing some evil ritual where heated metal was pressed into the girl's skin to make burns and then some green liquid (maybe an acid) was poured over the burns. Sakura could see the girl trying to scream through her gag.

Now if Shirou were here he would likely jump down to save that girl no matter what odds he was against. Sakura wasn't Shirou and she took this chance to cross to another opening in the cavern to keep exploring, the chanting of the cavern behind her.

As she kept walking however she heard the chanting stop and a voice called out something.

Thinking that they might have found her cell unlocked she ran down the corridor, taking one corner and then the next.

finally she saw the area get lighter and after another corner turned she was blinded by sudden sunlight.

She ran towards the light but suddenly there was a large beast before her. It had appeared out of nowhere. One second there was nothing and then there was a massive muscle-bound red fleshed ape here. As she tried to dodge around the ape it lazily reached out an arm for her. catching her in one massive palm the ape raised her to it's eyes to study her before walking back down the corridor towards the massive chamber.

There, where the girl had once been on the giant stone was a massive blood pool.

* * *

The cultists smiled as the blood ape brought the escaped prisoner through, if she was creative enough to escape the cells they would need to set a watch on her.

Regardless she was already here, they might as well start the next ritual.

* * *

End of chapter

Cliffhanger

As no-one seemed to care whether we do Sakura or Shirou for this chapter I decided to continue with Sakura.

She has been captured bu Yozi cultists and they intend to use her in a ritual, oh no

...regardless next chapter will be another Sakura one


	28. Chapter 20

Awakening in green and brass

* * *

Sakura was forced onto the blood soaked stone table in the middle of the hall, her arms and legs were bound by chains and she could feel a creeping fear.

All around her the cultists were gathered, slowly chanting. The great red ape that had caught her was standing off to one side, it had a sense of pride and cruel joy displayed on it's monstrous countenance.

When the chanting reached a significant point, Sakura saw a metal tool being pulled from a fire in the back of the room and taken towards her.

The tool seemed to be made of some material like copper or brass, it had a handle that ended in a sharp blade like a horizontal razor. The head of the tool was glowing red hot.

Sakura realised that this was the tool that had left the burn scars on the previous girl and struggled with everything she had, Her shadows emerged to cut at her chains and lash out at the cultists that stood close to her.

A loud gasp emerged from the cultists who could see her and the shadow. The few that were caught by the shadow fell to the ground either dead or drained of energy, Sakura didn't care.

The ape struggled over to her as he was attacked by the shadows, Sakura realised that this ape was not a natural being but some sort of spirit. She sent all her shadows towards it, she had discovered a way she could puppet spirits without the darkness within the grail but it required a lot of focus.

Her shadows shot into the ape, wrapping around the core of it's being. In her head Sakura ordered it "Free me!". The ape stood still for a few moments before smiling and shaking it's head. Sakura was confused, did this spirit have resistance to being compelled by her shadow? She yelled at it again in attempt to bypass whatever protection it had, "Slave, you obey me now!". Not only did that fail to control it, the great ape seemed to start laughing.

Sakura stared into the core of the spirit and discovered the reason she wasn't having any effect, some great darkness already controlled it or rather was a part of it. This darkness was stronger than her imitation of the corruption within the grail.

She retracted some shadows from the beast's core and begin cutting at it's flesh. If she could destroy it's physical form then it was one less thing to worry about later.

Unfortunately her attacks didn't seem to be doing much. The ape walked straight towards her and lifted her head from the stone before dropping it.

Her concussion was instant, she was dizzy and she was forced to drop her spell. She just lay against the stone with her head in all sorts of pain. She couldn't even form a though as the tool was reheated and brought towards her.

For a moment she didn't feel it, after that moment she screamed out in pain as a primal instinct. The tool that looked like a razor (or possibly a really short trowel said her concussed mind) and cut into her belly. The pain, both from the cutting and the heated metal drove a spike into her mind.

The cut was actually quite light but Sakura didn't know that, to her it felt like she had been impaled by a great flaming spear.

The pain was not over though as out of Sakura's view, another cultist carrying a quarter cup of acid walked over and poured some of it's content into the wound. Again Sakura's mind was filled by great pain.

As a kindness to Sakura I will not describe the rest of the hour she was tied upon that rock, except for the following; 9 more cuts were made, the beginning of some sort of demonic art piece. At the end of the time, Sakura had gone to her happy place. She dreamed of the time that Shirou saved her from the Makiri "Laboratory" during the grail war.

She remembered how she was covered in the crest worms and how Shirou had broken down the door. She remembered her own pain and the pain in the worms when he had cast fire into the pit. She remembered how he had driven off the crest worms not hiding within her and had taken her outside. She remembered the look on his face, the joy of a hero.

* * *

"Young one, are you still there?" Sakura lay unresponsive in her cell as that voice spoke to her out of thin air in crisp Japanese. When it asked again Sakura opened her eyes and looked around, thinking herself saved.

The voice spoke again "I asked if you were okay, they hurt you baldly didn't they?" again the voice came from the air. Sakura spoke quietly in order to reply "Please, if you are there, become visible so I don't think myself mad".

A few seconds later, the air in her cell shimmered as a strange figure dropped to the stone floor of the cell. While the cell was dark, the figure gave off it's own illumination from spots of light covering it's body.

Her (Hopefully) rescuer stood at maybe a head shorter than herself, she (the voice gave it away) was incredibly beautiful but not in any conventional way. The body of the figure was covered in small scales like a fish, the hands and feet were webbed and Sakura saw gill slits on her throat. The luminescence given off by the spots between some of the scales reflected around the body, giving it a soft illumination in thousands of different colours.

The visitor looked up towards Sakura and asked "What do you want most? Revenge against these cultists perhaps? Revenge against those that sold you to them?" Sakura thought about the question and simply shook her head "What I want most right now is to find my friend". The figure looked at her "Was he captured by the cultists too?".

"I doubt it," Sakura looked to the ceiling of the cave "he is somewhere in this world and that is all I know".

Her conversation partner whistled in surprise "That isn't much to go on. You also need to escape from here first"

Sakura nodded hopefully "Can you help me escape?"

The figure looked to her and slowly said "Yes... but not without a cost, my mistress sent me hear to make a deal with you"

Sakura waved at her to go on and the figure continued in one long rush "My mistress, she who marched against the flames, the lady of the sea, Kimbery has bestowed upon me a tool to recruit new followers, in return for serving her and the rightful rulers of this world you will have the power to do whatever you wish."

Sakura knew a deal with the devil when she heard one but also could not deny that she needed the power right now. She asked "So I must be bound to help these ancient beings regain control of this world for both freedom and personal power?"

The figure nodded slowly. Sakura thought about ways she could escape on her own, now she was the centre of attention they would be keeping a better eye on her. She would need to escape before her will was broken.

Filled with regret she looked to the figure, the figure thought she was about to sadly reply no before Sakura spoke "Very well, I accept your offer"

The pain in the figure was immediate, the figure she had been talking to burst into thousands of strands that in turn wrapped around Sakura. Her cry of surprise was not heard by anyone else as it and she were caught in a cocoon.

* * *

5 days passed.

* * *

When the cocoon broke Sakura found herself atop a raised platform.

She looked down at all the cultists crying out in joy towards her, they seemed to worship her now.

" _And what is wrong with that?_ " Spoke a voice in her mind that reminded her of the figure. Sakura shook her now white hair in shock, she felt new power pulsing through her.

Not a single remnant of the crest worms remained, she felt the power now within her like a sea of darkness.

The voice spoke to her again " _To them you are greater than any god, worse than any demon_ "

She spoke back to it " _I shouldn't be a god for them! I want to escape and find Shirou!_ "

Once again the voice spoke " _You should learn to use your new abilities properly first, I can show you to a place where you can learn. Your memories tell me Shirou is strong, you have time before you need to return to him_ "

Sakura didn't like it but agreed she should learn to use her new abilities.

She left the cave, not seeing a black circle that absorbed light on her forehead, neither did she notice the small scales that now ran down her spine.

At the guidance of the voice she set out into the desert after being brought across on the cultist's boat.

She didn't want to see Shirou until she understood and could control her new abilities.

* * *

End of chapter.

Sound the drums, play the powerful guitar music, let the children's choir sing out.

A new prince(ss) of hell has been crowned.

So we get our first exaltation in an exalted cross-over, normally this happens within the first or second chapter but I said screw it, we needed a proper scenario.

For reference Sakura is a fiend caste exalt with her favoured yozi being Kimbery and the ebon dragon.

Yes her patrons are a Yandere and a sociopath, this can only go well

Next chapter we are back on Shirou (Probably, if I don't get people asking me to do more of Sakura)


	29. Chapter 21

Sailing for the blessed

* * *

Months after Sakura's crowning, in the port that the dragon-blooded cousins brought their retinue to, Shirou was boarding the boat.

The ship itself was a single-masted yacht, it was made of wood and had designs on it's hull of flying dragons that were painted a deep black.

Shirou was wearing his new "Retainer" clothes, They reminded him of a man's kimono but in more diverse colours. His undershirt was coloured a rich blue and his jacket had the symbol that Nereth had called "The Tepet crest" was placed over his left breast.

Largely the clothes were comfortable but there was something about them that told him "While you where this, people will see you as only a servant". It wasn't too bad, he didn't enjoy being noticed most of the time anyway.

Once on the ship, he was directed to his room. He was not staying on the lower deck with the rest of the servants (he would have been fine with that) as the dragon-bloods had seen fit to give him use of one of the better rooms opposite of theirs.

Shirou was reminded of Rin's room when looking at the room he would be using during the journey, it was the same level of richness in the furniture. Less that the dragon-bloods themselves had (He had taken a peak into Nereth's room and she had a level of extravagance in her room that made Shirou think that if this was her normal standard of living, the last few months must have been hell for her.

Nevertheless he lay down on his bed, it was still early afternoon but he felt tired regardless.

* * *

They had eaten lunch before boarding the ship so supper was the first meal on the ship.

Most of the retainers and servants got bisects, salted meat and something Shirou was sure was some sort of alcohol with lemon in it.

The dragon-bloods got fresh rice and meat with side dishes, Shirou himself got similar but with much fewer side dishes.

As he ate, Shirou glanced around at the others. The dragon-bloods seemed to pay him little mind as they ate but some of the other retainers were looking at him with a hint of jealousy.

Shirou thought it likely that they were jealous of his higher position compared to them, Shirou didn't think he deserved it much himself and he doubted they did either.

He was one of the last to finish as the others had finished up already, the servants who didn't know about sailing went to bed while those that did helped out with the ship's chores.

Walking up to the railing of the ship, Shirou looked at the vastness of the sea. Before now he had never been on a sailing ship and the feeling was strange to him, he wasn't seasick which was a blessing but the feeling was odd regardless.

As he stood there, thinking about his life and wondering what his girlfriends were doing as another retainer walked beside him. It was an old man who wore clothing similar to him but the undershirt was a rich red instead.

The man looked to him and stated "The lord and lady have done much for you", Shirou looked to him as the man continued "The only other mortals who would be treated as you are nobles that failed to receive the blessing of the dragon"

After saying that the man looked over the water in the same direction as Shirou. Shirou muttered "I don't see why I'm treated this highly, I could easily have been treated the same as the rest of you".

To that the old man laughed "The dragons are fickle and yet they are true, they have claimed you as their own so it seems that they value you above most of the rest of us." The man smiled as he continued "We, the retainers, are not their friends. We are the tools of the dragons so they might ease their burden." The man turned to Shirou again "If they place your value so high, you would do well to live up to it, you are a friend of the dragons after all"

The man turned away chuckling before heading below decks. Shirou was left to think on his words, He knew that Nereth and Rai needed his help for the political struggle coming up but he didn't really want to fight in a war.

Fighting in a war leads to the hill of swords, "He will die alone and without allies upon the hill of swords", didn't Rin tell him Archer's death was similar to that?

Fighting in a war without his allies being in the same world could definitely cause that.

* * *

In the ship's meeting room Rai and Nereth were talking, the civil war could begin at any time and Shirou was the greatest weapon that Nereth had found out there in the east. Nereth was fond of the boy but he was their best chance, she didn't want to have to manipulate him into fighting for them but they might have to if he places finding a way home above them.

The thing to do would be having him meet some of the elder members of house Tepet, they were skilled in getting people to follow them.

The conversation turned from these darker subjects to more optimistic subjects, they had received messengers at the port that told them that the main opposition for the throne had recently made a mistake and alienated some of the dragon-bloods from other houses that went to follow her. Most of those who left were now coming to support the Tepet houses own candidate; Tepet Ejava also known as Roseblack.

This news was enough to calm the dragon-bloods and their conversation topic changed a few more times before they both decided to talk more tomorrow.

* * *

End of chapter

Shirou is on a boat!

Not much else happened!

Next chapter will be when they arrive on the blessed isle

In other news I have started another story, It won't be updated as regularly (as I am working on this story first and foremost) but I hope it will still be good


	30. Chapter 22

On the coast of the blessed isle

* * *

Shirou looked over the rail and the front of the ship, the blessed isle could be seen stretching across the horizon in the night. They were going to reach the docks within an hour according to the captain of the ship and the sun would just be dawning by then.

He had spent most of the journey thinking about this journey, finally he would be able to find his way home, the delay of getting to the magic academy would be annoying (Nereth had told him it was on the other side of the isle).

He hadn't asked much about the isle itself, from what he knew it was basically the single biggest empire in creation.

* * *

The boat arrived at the docks of the imperial city and began offloading cargo, the sun was just rising so few people were about. Shirou followed Nereth and Rai of the ship and onto the docks, there they had a palanquin ready for their arrival.

Before getting in to the palanquin, Nereth turned to Shirou and directed his attention to someone he had thought was a dockworker, he noticed now that he was wearing the same symbol that he had on the robes given to him.

Nereth spoke softly "He is the servant in charge of getting the artifacts we uncovered to the manse we will be staying at, I want you to travel with him and the artifacts." Shirou looked to her and she elaborated "It is possible another house might stage an 'Accident' to try and steal some of these artifacts, with you travelling with them I will feel they are safer."

Shirou nodded "Ok, assuming all goes well I assume that servant, " he nodded towards the one that Nereth had referred to earlier "knows the way and I just need to travel with the cart?"

Nereth nodded and passed him a slip of paper "Show these to the servant, they are my orders"

Shirou took the small letter and stepped away from the palanquin to allow Rai and Nereth to board and nod to him, a group of men then lifted the palanquin and set off down the street.

He turned over the letter he carried and found there were actually two slips of paper inside it, he took the smaller one and saw it was addressed to him. Something that had helped him learn high realm in the first place was because the written form was similar to Japanese, the characters were all different but the actual grammar structure and basics were similar enough.

This letter seemed to be merely a repeat of the instructions she had just given him but after a moment he noticed the message hidden inside it "There are many people in the blessed isle who would kill you or manipulate you if they knew I was your ally. Be careful and be slow to trust. There is a war brewing and people will target you if they know what you can do."

Shirou pocketed the letter to him and glanced at the letter for the servant, he couldn't understand the language so it was likely written in low realm.

Regardless he walked over to the servant, the man glanced at Shirou's clothes and the symbol on it as Shirou passed the letter to him.

A few seconds passed as the cart full of artifacts was being lowered to the docks, the cart was covered in a sheet to hide it's treasures. Finally the man nodded and directed Shirou to the cart.

Shirou walked over and leaned against it as the last of the servants got off the ship.

* * *

The party set off to the city gate to follow the dragon-bloods.

The cart trundled through the city as it began to wake up properly, Shirou walked besides the cart as people began their days. He felt the tension in the air, everyone in the imperial city was tense.

The cart made it to the west city gates, the servant leading the cart showed part of his orders to the guards and they let the cart leave.

The road beneath them was well maintained and wide, every so often Shirou would see a shrine to some god or another. The Journey could best be described as 'quiet', they went long stretches of time between seeing anyone else travelling the roads.

Shirou wondered about how the dragon-bloods were doing

* * *

When the palanquin had made it's way to the gates the dragon-bloods had gotten out to meet the person waiting for them outside.

He stood with three large Simhata (Lion horses), each was a different colour. The Simhata were the greatest mounts to carry the exalted, they were strong and prideful and would only be truly loyal to the exalted.

Rai and Nereth walked up to their family member as he dropped his hood smiling.

Nereth gasped out as she saw his face "Harada, you're back."

The man, Tepet Harada smiled to her "Yes little one, I am finally back"

Rai looked between the two of them, he had never met Harada before but he had heard of him. He graduated the house of bells with top marks but went missing soon after beginning to learn politics, most had thought him dead.

Harada tapped the side of the Simhata besides him "I just got back actually, think of it. I had been back in the manse less than an hour and they send me out to pick you two up."

He shook his head before mounting his Simhata in a single fluid movement. Nereth and Rai took their Simhata, a pair that were kept in the stables at the manse just for situations like this, and let their anima flare for just a moment. The Simhata watched them and then allowed them to mount without objection.

The three began to chat, Harada asking the two about how their journey was and being jokingly evasive when asked what he had been doing. When he heard about Shirou he turned to Nereth in surprise "He can truly create swords from nothing?"

Nereth nodded "Yes, but I believe there is some trick to it. He has shown the ability to copy artifacts and their abilities too."

A whistle came from Harada "Can't wait to meet him then"

Nereth continued "You should try facing him in a training match, for a mortal he is really strong and your swordplay was amazing"

A laugh came this time "My skills have weakened over the years, I am no longer the same sword master I used to be"

The three dragon-bloods kept talking as their Simhata ran at speeds that normal horses would struggle to reach.

* * *

End of chapter.

Oh look they are finally on the blessed isle, also Tepet Harada is finally one of my first cannon characters from exalted (though only in one book if I remember)

The next chapter will look at what cloaked blessing has been doing and what will happen during the journey.


	31. Chapter 23

A trip down the roads

* * *

Shirou walked besides the covered cart. He had heard that the journey would be a few days. He was starting to get tired of travelling for little reason but if they were preparing for war then he would soon have more important things to do than walking.

The sun was dropping so the party would make camp soon, Shirou had arranged that he would join the cooking staff such that it was. All they actually had for this journey was rice. No spicing or toppings to make it interesting, he would have to work with the herbs he would be able to find nearby.

Again he wondered what the others were doing without him, he had been in creation for over four months now, a third of his year without seeing Rin or Sakura. He prayed that the two of them were safe and doing well. knowing Rin, she would get him back even if it meant creating entirely new true magic.

The roads were well built, if an army had to march down them they would aid their travels. His mind briefly wandered to how he would go about fighting an army in this terrain, he had been doing this more often since this morning when he received Nereth's letter. Every other hour he would consider how he would fight on this land. The faster the war could end, the faster he would be able to devote himself to finding a way home.

He was not as good at magecraft as Rin but he trusted that if you gave him an exalted's library he would be able to learn about a way home.

Already ideas were coming to him though; back in the scavenger lands Rai had told him about the gods of this world and how they were bound to their jobs. More importantly he had told him about the elemental dragons, the children of the primordial being Gaia. When he had said the name Gaia, a name that Shirou knew it was a surprise.

If the Gaia of creation was the same Gaia of his world then he might be able to find a way back home by asking the dragons. The descriptions of the elemental dragons reminded him of something Rin had once told him, The true ancestors were something like vampires that existed as extensions of Gaia.

Shirou Reasoned that if vampires could be an extension of Gaia then why couldn't elemental dragons be as such? If he could get in contact with them...

Shirou's thoughts had stopped at this point as he realised he was considering meeting beings that were so far above him that they would see him as not important. He needed a way to contact Gaia but this was likely a poor way to do so.

Shioru caught a glimpse of something ahead, his eyesight was truly great since he battled Archer in the grail war. Ahead of him were a few people, hiding in bushes or behind trees, he caught the flash of a weapon and knew that he was facing bandits that planned to rob the cart.

Couldn't have that now could he?

He held up his hand for the cart to stop and signalled for some of the guards, showing them the threat.

He walked forward with them to get rid of the bandits.

* * *

Nereth, Rai and Harada arrived at the Tepet Manse as the sun set, they had their mounts taken to the stables as they entered.

The cousin's went to their patron for the journey and told him of the treasure that was coming, they had sent him a letter already but he would want to see them after the journey. He didn't hold them long so they met in the rooms that had been prepared for them to wait for the party that would occur with the news of the new artifacts having been discovered.

They talked for a few minutes before heading down to one of the lounges to hear the news from their family.

* * *

The blood was flicked of his blade before being sheathed at his waist. Shirou didn't know if he liked his new sword yet, it was good quality steel but it lacked any history.

He had considered getting a new blade so he could hide his magecraft and Nereth had used her connections to have a high quality blade delivered to him as she agreed with his idea.

The bandits were now all dead or had fled so the cart would be able to continue but the party leader had decided to set up here for the night. After Shirou had helped with the meal he sat down to do proper care for his blade. He did a quick analysis to look at it in detail.

It was a simple one-handed straight sword, good quality steel but a little shorter than he was used to. The blacksmith had some talent but it appears he was rushed while making this blade, there was a small flaw in the tip that might cause it to snap off sometime in the future if it was stabbed into something while not reinforced.

Shirou had not been practising much with the sword but he still retained a lifetimes worth of training with most weapons. Archer had used this type of sword on occasion during his life before becoming a counter guardian. Through Archer, Shirou had become a master of most forms of weaponry so he could probably use any weapon at this point.

He looked up at the stars and had the strangest feeling that even though the stars were different here, someone he cared for was looking at the stars at the same moment.

Not really possible but it was a nice thought, though if anyone were to figure out how to follow him it would be Rin and Sakura would likely come with her. Could they even now be in this world looking for him? Maybe if he made a name for himself they would find him?

Not a good idea but it was an idea at least.

* * *

End of chapter

In my original notes this chapter just didn't exist but I realised that a chapter was needed based on last chapter's ending. It would be strange if the Manse was only a day out by cart.

Also the entirely skipped bandit battle, I had planned to write it out only to realise that everyone knew that Shirou would win anyway.

Shirou + Guards vs bandits, no contest.

Shall I do the arrival at the Manse next chapter or look at Sakura or Rin instead?

Might just roll a dice.


	32. Interlude 4

Rin and the grail

* * *

Rin was not just angry, she was furious. Ruby had done this specifically to annoy her and in doing so she had sent Sakura to a dangerous world alone.

She guessed that Ruby had the power to send the both of them and had just decided not to, that thought was what was angering her the most. She now needed to find a new way (in a hurry) to reach Sakura and Shirou.

Sure, if you gave her time she would master second magic and be able to go after them with her own power but in that time Sakura and Shirou could be badly hurt without her. She needed a way to access second magic now and without Ruby's personality getting in the way.

The issue was she didn't have anything that she could use to control Ruby, she doubted her teacher had ever thought to make one as he would never really need anything from Ruby.

Ruby was currently trying to break her way out of the chest that Rin had shoved her back into, Rin doubted that the stick would be willing to send her to wherever they were.

If she couldn't use that maybe she could use something else. She knew of something that Illya had left to Shirou before passing on that could do the job.

* * *

Months ago, after the grail war, Shirou had carried Illya to his house after "Destroying" the grail. There she rested and recovered.

Illya knew however that she would never fully recover, her already short life had been further cut by using the dress of heaven.

Once, while Shirou and Sakura were out on a date, Illya asked a favour from Rin. The girl had pushed herself out of the bed she was in and spoke the words that would kill her given time "Rin, please, bring me the dress of heaven." at that time a soft smile appeared on her lips "There is yet one use for it."

Rin brought it from the closet in the room she was staying in. While a closet might be an odd place to put a powerful magical artifact no one could agree on a better place for it.

illya held it close to her chest, Rin thought she heard the small girl mutter some form of apology but she didn't hear it all before Illya looked up and explained her plan.

The grail was made of multiple pieces, Rin knew of them as the lesser grail and the greater grail. At this time however Rin was told how the greater grail functioned.

The servant summoning system was only made to supply prana to grant the wish, if you had enough prana anyway then you could make the grail grant a wish.

The only requirement was a "Key" that the grail could use to recognise reauthorized users, normally this was a living servant but they had to get creative here.

* * *

In the present Rin arrives at Shirou's mansion and heads inside to the room Illya once used.

She remembered that when Shirou and Sakura returned from their date all those years ago they arrived just as Illya stopped breathing, her remaining life taxed by the use of the dress of heaven.

Shirou had been thrown into a sense of failure until Rin had passed him Illya's will, written just prior to donning the dress.

She had cared deeply about her brother and it left an impact. Shirou didn't speak to Rin for the next few weeks but eventually they started speaking to each other again.

He came and helped along with Sakura and Lord El-Melloi II to dismantle the servant summoning system and most of the active parts of the grail.

That had been needed to allow Illya's final gift to be used.

To describe the grail right now it would be an oven without controls or a heating element. The fact that it would be a perfect to interact with any new controls or heating element you gave it is what is important right now.

Out of the floor boards of the room Illya had stayed in, Rin pulled a small package.

The inside of the package was a small crystal rod, Illya's final mystic code that she had created as she died. To call it a mystic code is slightly false, rather it is a control interface for a grail containing a small amount of Illya's personal magic to allow it's holder to be recognised by the grail as it's user.

Rin only had one stop off to make now.

* * *

She had gathered up a small bundle of supplies; water, food, jewels, a few other things. Her other hand held the cloth wrapped Stick and the crystal rod.

She looked up at the location that she had taken them too; the chamber of the greater grail.

She quickly began setting up, a few jewels to wake up the grail when needed and her stick inserted into what was left of the grail's core. Now the heating element was in place.

She stood looking at the grail, many times in the last few hours she had wandered if she was being far too reckless, the thought that always answered her is that they would probably need her. She chuckled upon recognising her pride before continuing.

She held the rod pointing towards the grail and spoke "I Tohsaka Rin, acting in the name of Illyasviel von Einzbern do order the grail thus; Unlock your power and grant my wish!"

In her heart she hoped that the grail was fully pure now, Illya had said it was but Rin still worried. Had she just unleashed darkness?

A bright light began glowing within the crystal rod, the cavern was soon full of the light. Rin was forced to close her eyes as the grail started up.

* * *

When she opened her eyes she was standing in a field. She looked around before hearing a voice "The Grail's wish granting function has been activated" the voice sounded like an older and more mature Illya "Error grail damaged materialisation of souls impossible" Rin turned behind her and saw a beautiful woman.

The woman who looked like an older Illya continued "Alternate power source presented, mystic code capable of second magic identified. Access from outside by administrator authority, Activating Holy maiden of Winter." The older woman finally opened her eyes and looked at Rin in surprise.

Rin quickly spoke "Illyasviel von Einzbern gave the permission to allow myself to access the system in times of need." The woman looked curiously at Rin before nodding "Very well descendent of Tohsaka, what is your wish?"

Rin spoke slowly, constantly checking her words "People I care about have been sent to another world via second magic, I have placed a mystic code capable of second magic within your influence. I wish that you would send me to where they are or bring them both back, whichever is easier."

The woman stood still for a moment, Rin couldn't see why but it was because the grail system was testing whether her wish was possible. Could they use second magic through the mystic code? The woman spoke again "The wish is possible but I won't be able to place you accurately, While you will go to the right world I cannot say where in that world you will end up."

Rin smiled "It is enough, I just need to stay safe till I find them." The Woman then looked her in the eye and spoke "Then I declare that here and now your wish will be granted"

* * *

Rin was no longer in the field or the cavern of the grail.

If she had to describe where she was it would be hard, the trees were white and the snow was green. She had no idea where she was but she heard one last panicked message from the grail; "You are in a very dangerous location, run to the south west. If you linger too long you will die."

Rin didn't have to be told twice, she ran in the direction that seemed to made the most sense.

* * *

End of chapter

Most of this was fiddling with the grail, I don't actually know whether most of this would work in cannon but it worked for my story and that is enough.

Also Rin is now in the North east Wyld, not too far in but far enough that she is in danger.

I think the next chapter might also be about Rin but we will see


	33. Chapter 24

A world of madness

* * *

Rin ran. She had been forced to abandon her gems when they started splitting open like seeds so she lacked the large pool of mana those could supply.

This world was impossible, that was the best definition possible. She had once heard about the dangers of second magic from Zelretch, at the time he had not just mentioned worlds that would kill the body but also worlds that would drive the mind to madness. The place she stood in now could very possibly do that.

She ran on through a world of tiny white leaves that fell like snow. The floor was a solid layer of this "Snow" that felt like it was made of wood. The sky was filled with clouds that were a bright green like grass.

A problem she had not expected was the cold, this land she now ran through was as cold as mid-winter, maybe colder. She had not been dressed for this weather so her only hope of staying warm was to keep moving. That meant never resting until she found somewhere relatively safe.

She had hope that Shirou and her sister had not needed to go through this. A chuckle escaped her at the thought of them sharing stories like "And this is what the wild chaos was like for me".

Of course she would never find them if she died.

She then noticed that the scenery had changed; it wasn't snowing anymore and it felt like she was running on a slope. she looked down and saw a pale green that was covered in ice. looking around her she noticed that the land was now made of these shapes of various colours and sizes and they were all frozen solid.

She realised suddenly that while the grail had brought her here it had not supplied a way back. She would be trapped in this world until she rediscovered second magic. By default this meant that she would have to get good at second magic before returning to the mages association, she would have to be the sort of true mage that they would be too afraid of to place a sealing designate on.

It would have to be her of course, neither Shirou nor Sakura would be able to figure this out. Shirou might be helpful in creating the Gem sword but she might have to do without the sword for her experiments.

As Rin's mind wandered she recognised that she was running on giant fruit that was frozen and partway trapped in ice. This place was mad in a way that made just enough sense to drive someone insane.

* * *

Time had passed and she was now somewhere different, after her rations had tried to kill her she abandoned her pack and ran. The issue was that she was tiring quickly. Running for such a long time was tiring so she had changed to walking quickly.

The sun was setting and she couldn't see the moon. She wouldn't be able to keep up the running by night, if she rested she would likely die.

Rin's mind and body were struggling to keep going, her mind was overloaded with the madness while her body was burning up from cold and exhaustion.

In her heart was a pair of wishes; "I want to find Shirou and Sakura" and "I want to find somewhere safe in the world of madness"

Unknowingly, Rin's desperate wish influenced the Wyld. The Wyld is a place of madness but also a place that "Makes sense" when looked at from the right perspective. In the Wyld you don't need a map, your wish to go somewhere will lead you closer too it. For Rin she wanted to find creation proper to look for her friend and her sister but at this moment she felt like she needed to live. The Wyld heard her wishes.

As she ran, Rin found a house. It was a small one room thing but she opened the unlocked door and hid inside.

In the room was a small burning fireplace, some fresh break and a sleeping bag. Rin was wise enough to know that there was probably a trap here so she went carefully.

She performed a structural grasp (just because Shirou was the best at it didn't mean that it wasn't a very basic spell) on the food and the sleeping bag. The sleeping bag felt normal but she detected a strange magic in the food that twisted through them.

She decided that she would sleep even if she couldn't eat and crashed onto the sleeping bag full of exhaustion and slept quietly for a few hours.

* * *

Her dreams were bizarre, but they were actually less strange than the place she had run through.

When she woke up she felt strong again, she might be hungry but she could still run today.

Once she left the hut it fell into the snow. Rin couldn't be bothered really, she felt great.

She began walking quickly in the direction that made sense, this place still wore against her mind, body and soul but she felt great.

If she had realised the Wyld was starting to get to her she might have been more cautious. It is a corrupt place, turning mortals into madmen or beasts was easy for it. As always it attacked the place where the mortal was most vulnerable, Rin's was her pride.

Rin was ecstatic when she thought back on it, clearly her use of both the grail and second magic was only possible because of her skill. If anyone else had tried that they would have failed. Now she could see this new world. She would also save her friends of course but that was going to be easy.

She would be the best magus in this world.

The part of her mind that spoke rationally told her that was not a sure thing, she was the greatest of her friends but nothing said she was the absolute greatest.

She relented and set her mind back on task, the world was making more sense now anyway.

The scenery made a sort of sense, there was a normal ground, normal trees and normal snow. It wasn't her problem they were all the wrong colours.

She kept going and saw more of these not quite right areas. The world was making more sense now as she had travelled closer to creation proper and further from the edge of the chaos beyond the Wyld.

The day passed relatively uneventfully, it was after the sun started setting that Rin realised she had a problem; There was no helpful hut and she was starving.

She kept going with bloody determination, following the direction she thought was right.

The thought crossed her mind that she would fail and not make it. She thought about giving up and dying.

No! No! No!

She stood up and took a step, another.

"So you will carry on?" Rin almost fell over again as she looked for the source of the voice. There was a woman she hadn't seen before sitting on a fallen tree nearby.

Rin recognised quickly that the woman wasn't a normal human, in a dangerous place you don't sit calmly. Normal humans also don't tend to have auras that reminded you of glowing moonlight.

The woman wore a robe that obscured most of her body, Rin could see the woman's face but it was ageless. The woman could have been only a few years older than Rin or they could have lived for eternity. The Woman wore a soft smile and spoke "Girl, I see that you are lost." It was a statement, not a question. Rin just nodded.

The woman kept up her sly smile before standing and walking over so she stood above Rin "You are a very mysterious Girl, as far as the world sees you don't exist."

Standing up, Rin looks at the woman who treated her as a child but before she could speak the woman cuts her off "Oh I have no doubt that you thing highly of yourself, the madness of this place is enough for pride to be overblown."

Rin was silent for a moment as the woman waves her hand for a few seconds after that Rin felt a weight on her mind removed and she could see just how much her pride had grown during the last day.

The woman's smile returned and she spoke again "Do you think yourself a great mage?" Rin looked at her and nodded. The woman laughed softly before continuing "I will test your experience, I will test if you have gone through the trials."

The woman started asking questions and Rin thought back on her past.

"Have you faced humility in the learning of your craft" Rin had been forced to be a humble apprentice to learn from Kotomine, the humble act was a thing she hated but she did it to learn.

"Did you learn well during the time you learned your craft" Rin learned magic from Kotomine and her father, from both she learned well. Her magic was her own now but it had been learned from others.

"Have you faced new challenges, always striving to learn more" The holy grail war was a new experience for her, in theory she had prepared for it but it had been unlike anything else including her own plans.

"Have you faced fear, that fear that lurks within the hearts of men and beasts" At the grail wars end, Rin had been in true fear, Sakura's madness had been incredibly terrifying for her. She would never forget the moment where in looked like Sakura would simply kill her.

The woman smiled as if reading Rin's face had been enough to glean the answers from it. After a moment her face took on a serious cast "It is now time for the final trial, What would you sacrifice to see yourself obtain new magic?" In the clock tower there is very little one wouldn't do to gain magic, that wasn't the question however. What would Rin sacrifice to obtain this power. The classic clock tower answer would be something to the effect of 'My morality' Rin knew however that that would not be her answer.

She cast around for a few seconds, testing her will for what would be an appropriate sacrifice. Too little and it would be an insult, too much and her life was over. Eventually she came to the answer, considering her outlook it was basically inevitable. "I would give up any respect my peers in the clock tower might have, I choose morality over there petty squabbles and the magic over their respect."

The woman looked at her like a judge at a convicted felon, She judged Rin's soul to see if the answer was truly her sacrifice. Finally the woman nodded.

A great silver light lit the night, the glow lit the Wyld for miles around. A new ruler had been crowned of course.

For surviving the Wyld and Luna's judgement, Rin had become one of the chosen of the moon.

When the light faded Rin looked different, her exhaustion was gone, a silvery circle appeared on her head and if one looked closely you could see a glint in her eyes like that of a cat at night.

Luna smiled at her newest daughter before pointing towards creation and saying a simple word; "Run!"

Rin ran, between one bound and the next there was now a black cat running through the snow.

* * *

End of chapter

So Rin has exalted now, she is also a sorceress now (By Exalted's definition, that was the point of Luna's questions)

Next chapter is another Rin chapter


	34. Chapter 25

A new teacher

* * *

Rin continued running through the snow, the wind rushed past her allowing her to enjoy the speed. She had been running for a few minutes now but she felt that she had already travelled quite a distance.

That woman she had met had done something to her, Rin didn't fully understand so she wondered what she had gotten into.

The strangest thing was it had the feeling of being 'Right' as if this was some sort of best possible scenario. The air around her hummed in her ears, her passing was disturbing it slightly and she could tell how.

If she tried she thought she might be able to sense exactly how her movement would influence the air. Something to do later she decided as she continued to run.

She was elated so it was a bit of a surprise when she came to a fallen tree and rather than jump it she crawled under a gab between it and the ground. Right now Rin was acting mostly on impulse so it was only now she noticed her size difference. Rin stopped for a moment and turned her head, she was a black cat.

"That woman must have done this to me!" she decided, seeing as going back wouldn't help her (she already knew that space didn't work properly in here) she continued on.

Slowly the 'Strangeness' of the lands faded, trees were trees and the right colours again. Rin ran further as she didn't know whether this was just a pocket of normality (She had been tricked by something like that early on).

A voice called out in a rough language nearby, she had also heard mad languages in the Wyld so she paid it no mind and ran on. Before she got far however the call came again and Rin knew that it was following her. She glanced behind her and saw some black shape fold away from the trees behind her.

She tried to push herself faster, if she was to be hunted she would force them to work for it! The shape approached quickly but her instinct told her what to do "Something that big won't be a skilled climber." Rin changed course and aimed for a collection of trees whose branches could reach each other. As a cat she could climb where others don't dare!

reaching the first tree she leaped and began to claw her way up, a quick climb later she stood pridefully within a small hole in the top of the tree. She looked down to see her pursuer, now in the moonlight she could see it's shape better. It was a large black dog of some sort, not quite a wolf.

Rin looked down to keep an eye on it, it might have some sort of trick that could allow it to get at her so she needed to be ready to run. The dog looked up at her in the hollow before it did something strange. The dog stood up on it's back legs. Rin looked at it in shock before it changed, where once 'stood' a dog now a man stood.

Rin quickly went through the possibilities. One was that she was still in that place of madness and this dog was a hunter that was part of the madness, another possibility was that this was some form of werewolf.

Before she decided the man said something in the same rough language as before, it seemed like he was trying to say something to her. The man tried to say more but Rin couldn't understand a bit of it, he slumped his shoulders in a way that clearly said "You can't understand me can you?" Rin shook her head so the man switched to a different language that was spoken faster and a lighter tone, when this failed he switched between a few more languages, none of which Rin knew.

The man sighed dramatically before opening his arms wide as if asking for a hug. Very clearly Rin understood is actual meaning though she had no idea how it meant something so complicated with a single gesture "Greetings little sister of Luna, I mean you no harm and offer safety so please come down and join me."

Rin had no idea how that was what she took from the gesture but she believed it, she believed what this man had 'Said' via the motion.

She climbed out of the hollow and jumped, landing on the ground before him. The man grunted something in the first language before pointing "That way" and beginning to walk, Rin followed.

* * *

Part way through the journey Rin realised she felt exhausted, hungry, thirsty, cold and in desperate need of sleep. She trudged on but when the man glanced back at her and his face became apologetic she stopped. He opened his arms "I'll carry you the rest of the way" and Rin hopped in.

A few minutes passed as Rin dozed in the man's arms, after a while Rin was shaken slightly causing her to wake up in a panic. She was now in a cluster of tents and a few small buildings, the man put her down before leading her to one of the larger tents that had a small fire pit inside of it.

As Rin set down to rest before the fire, the man brought her some fire-cooked fish, and a small bowl of water. Rin was too tired to complain so she ate the food quickly. Her feline body then only had one thing it needed to do desperately; Sleep.

Rin tried to fight it but she began to doze again.

* * *

The man who had found Rin was heading for one of the buildings where the leaders of this pack of young Lunars stayed. The man's name was 'Broken stone with crystals within' or simply 'Stone' or 'Broken Stone'.

He was one of the oldest Lunars within the camp, over 700 years old at this point. He had known about the little cat due to a message from Luna, it had said a young lunar would be escaping the wyld soon and they would die if not helped.

He trusted in his patron goddess to ignore what was likely a hallucination so he left to the location she designated. Luna had said this young lunar had great potential in sorcery so she had also asked him to take on the position of her mentor.

The girl would need to be tattooed first and even then he would have to convince his senior elder that the girl shouldn't just be trained by a younger Luna. The girl better be worth it...

* * *

End of chapter

So Rin has been found by a pack of Lunars who will train her... Ok.

Next chapter will be her training probably.


	35. Chapter 26

Child of the moon

* * *

Rin awoke in a start, she was lying on a pile of something soft that was covered by a sheet. Over her head was some canvas so she assumed she was in some kind of tent.

She stretched on her bed and as she did she saw that she had hands again and not paws. Remembering that she had possessed paws before called back the events of the previous day to her.

She stood up off the bed and looked around the tent, apart from the bed she saw a burned out fire and a small plate of some type of biscuit was on it. She then noticed that she had lost her clothes and was now wrapped in a cloth.

Her stomach rumbled and Rin quickly took the plate and ate the biscuit, it was a slightly salty biscuit that seemed to have been created as something like a calorie bar. If she was being given this is was likely that they wanted her to do a lot today.

For a moment Rin considered whether she actually trusted this group, it seems they are shapeshifters but she was one now too. They had taken her in and fed her, did they expect her to help them in some way?

As she thought about this a wolf wandered into her tent, in a confusing moment the wolf was gone and the man from yesterday stood there. He stood and looked at Rin, a movement that seemed to imply he was performing morning pleasantries. Rin nodded and wandered what he was going to ask of her, she wished that she knew how to speak their language so that she could actually reply to him.

She was asked to leave the tent and she was brought to a building made of stone bricks, inside was a fire with a pot of some silvery liquid inside of it. In addition there was a chair with a young woman sitting in it and a supply of various kinds of tools on the back wall. In the flickering light of the fire, Rin could see something she couldn't before; Both the man who had brought her and the woman in the room had silvery tattoos.

Was this some kind of initiation rite? If only she had a way of asking. She would likely turn them down, she was grateful for their help but she needed to get looking for Shirou.

The woman glanced into her eyes and Rin had a strange feeling, the sort of feeling that a child might have if they knew their mother was watching. After half a second passed when the woman nodded, a nod that clearly said "I can talk to you properly if I am allowed to drink a small amount of your blood." This magic body language trick of theirs was amazingly versatile. Rin finally processed what the woman had signed and shuddered.

Some powerful curses in magecraft require blood of the target, could she trust that this woman didn't intend to place her into some formed of cursed binding. Rin looked awkward and the woman gave her that same feeling again of a mother looking at a child. She then smiled sweetly, a movement that said "Do not worry, I mean you know harm."

Rin was not a person who trusted easily but at this moment the woman seemed perfectly safe. Rin was experienced enough as a mage to know something was wrong but in the end she trusted the woman and was given a knife with which to extract a small amount of her blood.

A quick cut on a finger and a few drops of crimson blood later the woman drank a tiny cup of her blood. A few seconds passed before the woman smiled and began speaking perfect Japanese.

"Greetings girl, you likely have many questions for us." the woman spoke with a clear tone so Rin responded politely "Thank you, I do." A moment passed as Rin considered her first question "What are we?" The woman smiled "A simple question with a complex answer"

"We are called Lunar Exalted, you likely know of the dragon-blood?" Rin shook her head at the woman's question so she just moved on with a slightly questioning look "Regardless we are a form of powerful being, a combination of human and divine strength. We are blessed by the god(dess) Luna to be her champions who are just as variable and changeable as she/he/it is" Rin was confused for a moment about the gender of Luna but just let it pass to let the woman continue "We are shapeshifters and protectors."

"Long ago our group identity was shattered, we were forced to flee into the Wyld and it's corruption drove some of our number into insane monsters, our greatest thinkers then developed our tattoos, they protect us from the Wyld and from other things that might try and warp what we are." Rin nodded as she started to put the peaces together, she then asked the question that had just occurred to her "You were going to ask me to be tattooed weren't you?" The woman nodded and continued "It is the safe thing to do but it will be painful. After you have been tattooed we can begin your training as a Lunar of the silver pact."

* * *

The man left the room and the woman introduced herself as "Floating Silver Cloud", Rin had introduced herself too.

Floating Silver Cloud spoke again to explain the procedure to Rin "The Charm I will be using is called Form-Fixing Method, as I perform it I will be asking you about your life to get an idea how to properly perform the charm, I will have to ask you to be honest. Our conversation will also distract you from the pain. Once it is complete I am to ask you if you want to take on a new name as a member of the pact and then you are to perform a few trials to test you."

Rin nodded although the fact she would need to tell about her life worried her (to be fair they were very far away from that life now and these people were magic anyway).

The woman began by taking something like a small scalpel with a small reservoir containing that silvery liquid, the woman was about to begin the Form-fixing method and so she started talking "What sort of place did you grow up in?" Rin talked about how she had grown up in a nearly empty mansion being taught magic by a man who it turns out killed her father, she talked about learning magic in preparation for the fight that would come. When asked about the Holy Grail War all that Rin said was that it was a secret war between mages where they directed intelligent familiars to fight for them.

The woman smiled at Rin as she finished up a design on Rin's arm, the silver liquid had pooled in her hands. Rin was shocked for a moment when she saw the liquid had traced out the places where she used to have her command seals. The seals were clearly picked out by the silver like an outline.

Floating Silver Cloud asked another question as she began working on Rin's shoulder "What was your life like as a child with your father?" Rin thought about it before talking about her father showing her the basics of magic, she talked about the mistake she had made and how he had saved her. She was quiet for a moment before talking about Sakura, about how her sister had basically been sold.

The woman offered her apologies for touching a sensitive subject as she finished a design that ran down Rin's spine to her coccyx, the design looked like the spine itself. As she started on the legs she asked another question "What would you fight to protect?"

Rin spoke about Sakura and Shirou, told how she would fight for them to save them (and in Sakura's case how she had fought her to save her) she then talked of her magic knowledge, how it was valued above else by mages like her.

More questions were asked and answered as more of the tattoo was created, in the end Rin put on the sheet that had been offered her.

Her Tattoo was complete, it was a light thing and Rin was told that in time it would become harder to see and yet not lose it's protection.

Floating Silver Cloud then asked her last question "Do you want to take a new name?" Rin considered the question before answering "I won't give up my old name and yet if I am allowed I will take the name Jewel as a name among the Lunar."

"Very well Jewel, lets head outside."

* * *

Rin was taken to a small circle of stones half a mile from the camp and asked to sit in the middle, the man who had taken her in was there too and watched as she entered the circle.

The next few seconds passed in a flash, One second she stood against a snowstorm after the next she was talking with lots of people individually to get them to agree with something. In the next second she was fooling an enemy and causing them to die with a knife in the back. Last was a puzzle that was solved quickly.

After 5 seconds had passed she opened her eyes again, she now felt the power that she held. She stretched out a hand and looked at the hollow command seals now on her hand.

Floating silver Cloud nodded to her "There is now only one part left of your initiation, you must learn to hunt."

Rin was taken into the forests away from the Wyld and taught the basics of the sacred hunt, she must find a member of the species she wants to hunt, stalk it to learn about it and then chase it down and kill it, dedicating the hunt to Luna. She would then obtain another Shape, after the previous step she understood how to change to her cat form freely but with this hunt (which was advised to be a bird by Floating Silver Cloud) she would truly be able to use Luna's gifts.

Over the next few hours Rin found a snowy owl and watched it hunt small rodents, she saw it fly on silent wings to attack expecting targets. When she was ready she began chasing it, starting when the owl was low to the ground as to not let it escape. She pounced and killed it with the knife she was given. She offered the owl to Luna before slowly taking the owl's heart in her hands and after shuddering for a moment for what she was about to do, cut open the heart and drank the blood within it.

Rin then tried very hard not to throw up.

She made her way back to camp using her new wings and was allowed to use the same tent as last night to sleep. In the night her dreams were disturbed, considering her confusing day this was to be expected really.

* * *

End of chapter

Rin has gone through initiation and is now a Lunar of the silver pact. I am considering going over to Sakura for the next chapter to show the demonic equivalent of this but I might also go back to the present of the story with Shirou.

Also the Sacred hunt was a bit disturbing for Rin but she has done just as disgusting things when learning magic under Kirei


	36. Chapter 27

Journey to hell

* * *

Around the same time that Rin was beginning her training to be a Lunar, Sakura was walking through the deserts of the south.

She needed to learn to use her new skills before looking for Shirou and that meant finding somewhere to train.

Her guide, her unwoven coadjutor, was humming slightly. She was trying to detect something that she hadn't explained to Sakura but while they looked for it she was telling Sakura to practice on mortals.

You might think that white hair and the fish scales she had gained during exaltation might be a give away to mortals that they faced a demon. To bypass this problem Sakura practised a charm that according to her guide " _Most Princes of hell learn this charm for travelling the surface, it hides your oddity behind a mask_ " The charm was called 'Loom-snarling deception' and it was able to provide a disguise that was perfect for this.

When Sakura had first used it her shadow felt like she could control it again but only for a moment, her shadow had reared up and covered her. When it fell away Sakura was pleased to see that her hair was back to being purple and that her skin was clear and free from scales.

Now whenever she would approach passing traders her guide insisted that she should test out her power on them. Sakura wasn't keen on learning new charms quite yet as when she learned a charm called 'Witness to darkness' she had become temporarily blinded by the sun, while it apparently helped her spot liars the weakness to bright light was quite annoying.

For the purpose on finding the location she was actually looking for, her demon suggested she learn 'Hellscry Chakra' and 'Transcendent Desert Creature', the first was apparently helpful to find what they were searching for but the second was more useful, it made the harsh desert her friend. She would find small pools of water and edible roots easily and the sun didn't seem quite as strong on her.

It took a few days more to find the destination, in doing so Sakura had requested a travelling party to give her a bag with supplies. She had not used her essence to convince them but rather their own compassion, she had asked them to have pity on her, alone in the desert without supplies. One of the younger people had supplied her with her bag and supplies after that. Her guide was a little disappointed but mentally mumbled something about " _Learn to be a princess and not a beggar._ " Sakura ignored the little demon and carried on to the destination.

Finally they came to what her guide called "The boundary line" Sakura looked at the desert. A few steps ahead of her the desert just changed, the sand went from being the colour of caramel to now being a bright silver that seemed to reflect light in odd ways.

Her guide explained it " _This is the entrance to the Endless Desert, once you pass it you have to pace yourself. We will reach our destination in five days, no longer or shorter._ "

Sakura looked a the silver sand and sighed before taking a few steps over the boundary, nothing much changed except the line spread out so that if she kept walking 'Forward' she would continue to walk into the desert. She glanced behind her to the caramel sand and sighed before continuing to walk.

* * *

Nothing was here other than the sand and sky, there was no water other than the skins that she had brought with her and there was no food other than what she brought with her. She trudged through the endless desert, getting a quick rundown of the history of creation and the demon city.

Sakura had empathy for demon kind but she still saw that the Yozi were likely insane. Her unwoven coadjutor was teaching her many things about creation now that she was on this journey this extended to how the Unconquered Sun had overthrown his creators and locked them in hell, Sakura heard this and thought of many things.

She debated if the Sun was good or evil and her coadjutor answered immediately " _He is the physical embodiment of virtue, his compassion let him rise up for mortals and his valour gave him the strength._ " Sakura took this in and asked " _So he is good but our enemy?_ "

Her Coadjutor 'nodded' before continuing " _Many in creation would see us as villains but we simply want the chance to be free and live, what is wrong with that dream?_ "

The two of them were silent for a moment as Sakura thought about what was just said and she wondered what Shirou would do.

* * *

Days had passed before finally Sakura saw the walls of the demon city, they were vast, stretching across the horizon and so tall that she thought that they were still half a days walk away. If they were that far away and she could see them then they were truly vast.

Sakura walked towards a wall and then towards one of many gates in the wall. Her guide had taught her the language of the demons, old realm, so Sakura could read the sign above the entrance.

'13th layer, east side'

The coadjutor signalled that this would be a fine one to enter so she did.

Once through the door she was forced to stop and stare, there is no easy way to describe the demon city other than weird. Above her she could see a massive dome that was so large the Sun was inside it, the highest point of the dome was even further, twice as far away as the green sun. Her Coadjutor mentioned that the sun of this city was closer to them than creation.

In truth, her Coadjutor explained, the demon city is a massive sphere, we stepped into one of the higher layers so there were large floating islands of similar size to continents just floating around. Below them was the depths of the Sea that marched against the flame, Kimbery " _One of your patrons girl, feel honoured._ "

Sakura realised it would take a long time to get used to the city so she simply asked her Coadjutor what she was expected to do now she was here. Before she could answer she heard a familiar voice behind her, a voice she hadn't heard in a long time "About time you made it here Sakura." She spun to see Shinji sitting on a stone that made him significantly larger than her.

Her mind was in turmoil for a moment before crystalline reason broke through before replying "You aren't him, he died."

The figure that pretended to be Shinji chuckled before becoming shadowy and reforming as Shirou, he made a comical bow after getting off the rock "Is this better?"

Sakura was now more shocked but she was calm, this wasn't Shirou either, he would never make that mocking face.

Her Coadjutor was freaking out and Sakura managed to pull out a bit of info, she knelt and said "Greetings Yozi Ebon Dragon."

The Ebon Dragon, still looking like Shirou, chuckled again and spoke "You are to follow me Sakura, I will lead you to someone else we are to talk to." As he said this he held out his hand to Sakura as if making an offer, at her Coadjutor's insistence she took the hand.

Suddenly she was even higher in the sky, being held by the Dragon's claw. For a few moments they flew before the dragon turned his palm up and opened his grip, Sakura looked up to see that they faced a great red stone that shone like the full moon.

The Ebon Dragon spoke, his voice a wispier "Ululaya, the Blood-Red Moon is the Fetish soul of your other patron. The three of us must now talk."

It didn't feel much of a 'Talk' to Sakura. The demons were likely talking but to her they were just pelting her with questions before the Ebon Dragon got bored and dropped her on top of a nearby tower so that he and Ululaya could discuss more easily.

"He really is ridiculous isn't he?" Sakura spun again (She wished powerful demons would stop sneaking up on her) there stood a beautiful woman with pitch black skin, silvery eyes, hair and silken clothes. At the woman's side was a silver horn and Sakura's Coadjutor quickly informed her of who she spoke to.

Sakura bowed her head "Greetings Lady Erembour," Sakura quickly thought back to what she had asked before replying "if you are asking about the Ebon Dragon I don't know enough to cast that judgement"

The woman laughed, a soft laugh like bells, and nodded "Yes, yes, you are truly polite" Sakura blushed as Erembour continued "He is the most petty Yozi, doing most things simply because he can."

Erembour chuckled a bit more before putting her hand on Sakura's shoulder and pointing towards a large dome that could be seen from the tower "There is your home while you are in the demon city, go ahead and go there now, I am fairly sure the Ebon Dragon has stopped caring about you by now and will simply ask for an update later."

Sakura looked between the dome and Erembour and simply nodded, taken in by the words of the great demon. She began descending the stairs to street level.

* * *

End of chapter, Sakura is now in hell, Yay?

Regardless the original infernal chapter implies many horrible things happen to new infernals but I am simply going to ignore that part as most writers do.

TED (the ebon dragon) is a very strange being, think of him as what would happen if Angra Mainyu was near all-powerful. Sakura didn't interact with him enough to show that he is a grade-A monster and compulsive liar.

On the other hand Erembour respects him but recognises his flaws (This is likely how most Third circles see their progenitor)

Ululaya didn't really do anything as very little has been published about him and I couldn't think how to portray him.

Regardless, more Sakura next chapter or back to Shirou?


	37. Chapter 28

A land of demons

* * *

As Sakura approached the dome she recognised how wrong it was, The simplest way she could describe it would be as a city-sized inside-out tent.

It broke out of the ground with black bones holding it up and it had a small torii (temple gate) at the front that she was walking toward. Her coadjutor spoke up as she wondered about the dome "It is called the Conventicle Malfeasant, I can tell you that the torii is the entrance but like most demons I have no idea of what lies beyond it."

Sakura walked forwards towards the torii, she could see now that it was made of flesh that looked to be rotting. A small part of her wanted to make some sarcastic joke, "Oh, this looks inviting" but she was afraid that her coadjutor might take her entirely literally.

It looked like the torri was a pair of gates, each with their own doors. All she would need to do is step inside it and she would be able to get to her 'New home'.

Sakura steadied herself before touching the closed gate on her side of the dome. The door broke around her palm and let her push through to the interior.

A few seconds of pitch darkness passed before the opposite door opened. Beyond the opening was the piercing light of the green sun. She stepped out onto a platform that allowed her to overlook the interior of the dome.

The dome was bigger on the inside. Arrayed around the outside of the dome were large houses, A quick count revealed 50 of these houses. Below them was what looked like a small city that was filled with noise that reached this platform. In the dome's centre was a large amphitheatre, it reached above most of the buildings in the city around it.

As she stood there, observing one of the most normal looking places in Malfeas (still looks odd, just less odd), she heard some footsteps walking toward her. Turning, she saw a woman wearing very little who bowed when she had realised she had been seen.

When the woman spoke it was with a tone of great respect "Greetings New Princess, I have been sent to invite you to your coronation thing."

Sakura wandered what this 'Thing' was but decided to hold off asking that question so she ordered (In her best imitation of how bossy Rin could be) "Very well, lead on."

The woman bowed again and clapped her hands twice. Suddenly the sound of insect wings buzzing could be heard, Sakura glanced around to look what insect could be near her but when the sound became even louder she looked back over the city where the sound was coming from.

Over the city she could see something approaching the platform, it was some kind of giant wasp. Normally this idea would scare Sakura (She still hated insects) but she couldn't hate such a beautiful creature as what descended to the platform. The wasp was easily the size of a horse if not slightly larger, it seemed to glow softly and the slow movements of it's wings was hypnotically beautiful. It was then the wasp spoke in a voice like small brass bells "Greetings New Princess, I am Wondrous Hate. Agatae servant of your previous incarnation and now your servant."

Sakura snapped out of the daze that the Agatae had lulled her into and stood up straight "Take me to my Coronation Thing" she ordered in way that was respectful and commanding. Wondrous Hate bowed her head and then lowered itself to the ground so that Sakura might sit herself onto the Agatae. When she had done so the Agatae stood back up and started hovering into the air.

Sakura had time to grab onto the saddle before her mount took off towards the centre of the city. In only a minute or two she was flying over the top of the amphitheatre where she could see a few people sitting in the stands, looking up at her. Wondrous Hate bought her down in the centre of the amphitheatre, allowing her to step off onto the podium in the centre.

Sakura looked up at the few people looking at her, she knew instinctively that most of them would be infernal exalts like her. The rest would either be high ranking demons that were curious about her or others who were of a high enough rank to be allowed here.

She didn't really know what to say so she found it a relief when another person walked up and stood besides her, she didn't know who he was but he began speaking in a smooth and crystal clear voice "Welcome to today's Coronation Thing for your new fellow. She has taken the Exaltation of Black Moon Walker and there is hope that she outshines even that great woman." The man softly grasped Sakura's arm and lifted it into the air "Welcome the new princess of hell!"

A cheer goes up from the watchers as the man lets go of Sakura's wrist and begins to walk away. Sakura shyly ducked into one of the chairs to let others who were coming for the podium get to it unopposed. Those who stood told stories of Black Moon Walker, the fiend who had died and passed her exaltation onto Sakura. They told stories of her discovery of new necromancy spells that were traded to the Deathlords, they told stories of her conquests of men after being taught by Mara herself. They finally told the story of her death as she fought to make sure that no one would make it to a dragonblood in time to save him.

Sakura didn't really know what to think, she didn't really understand what was going on so when the end of the thing was called she left quickly. Wondrous Hate picked her up and ferried her to one of the townhouses near the wall of the dome. "This is yours my lady." Sakura had heard the Agatae say. The house was beautiful in a twisted way, the way that you could describe a psychopath, 'Charming but evil'.

Sakura pushed on the door and it opened at her touch. Inside was a group of demons and Things that looked like people ("Akuma, those that sold their souls for power" her Coadjutor wispered), they bowed to her.

Sakura asked to be shown her room at present, one of the Akuma took her to a lavish room. Sakura didn't care, she needed to sleep and digest everything that had happened today. She knew she would have to do something tomorrow, maybe train for this 'Great mission' that she had heard mentioned in the thing. She really didn't care.

She just wanted to see Shirou and Rin again

* * *

End of chapter

Ok, next chapter we are finally getting back to Shirou

I just imagine him sitting in place while all this has gone on even though most of what has been in the last few chapters are all in the past compared to him


	38. Chapter 29

The War

* * *

The cart trundled down the road and Shirou was walking beside it, contemplating his adventure so far. When he saw Rin or Sakura he would want to tell it properly. There was an awful amount of travelling in it compared to the grail war but it still had some high points.

A lot of it was fighting bandits but there were stories like the golden lion god that were interesting.

Shirou was considering other high points as the cart and the procession came to a halt, when he looked up to see what it was he was shocked. Their way was not blocked by bandits but by soldiers.

One of the soldiers, a captain or other leader of the small group of soldiers stepped forward. Shirou didn't recognise the crest on his armour so it was likely he wasn't a party sent by Tepet to protect them. The leader of the soldiers began speaking a language he didn't know and now wish he had learned.

Nereth's servant spoke up and said something in the same language and the leader looked shocked before glancing around the group with the cart as if looking for someone. Eventually his eyes stopped at Shirou who he considered for a moment, he said something and Nereth's servant responded in an affirmation.

The soldier straightened up before speaking in high realm "In the name of house Mnemon we are seizing this cart and all who are with it," he glanced again at Shirou before continuing "No one will be harmed if they don't resist."

He considered the soldiers, there were 25 of them and in theory he could use his noble phantasms to beat all of them. He debated with himself on whether that was safe but eventually thought better of it. People on both would die if they fought now using that much power. Nereth's warning spoke again in his memory "People will target you if they know what you can do."

Shirou thought of something, it was stupid and unlikely to work but it seemed as if people in this land would keep a promise if they got something out of it. He wasn't about to give away the treasure that wasn't his however, he would pretend he was but use a treasure of his own.

"How about a wager?" Shirou asked as he held out his hand "You vs me in a sword fight, if you win I come quietly and you get the card, if I win we get to go along to our intended destination unhampered by you."

The commander considered before eventually nodding but he added "of course if we lose there will come more after us." Shirou winced at that, if there were more coming then they would trade information, the next one might simply refuse the duel.

The commander had agreed however so Shirou raised his new sword and the duel began.

The fight was fast, Shirou attacked first by getting in close and making a wide slash towards the soldier's belly. The attack was parried and the soldier stepped back to cut overhead. Shirou got out of the way, considering his next move.

Eventually Shirou got one, it was risky but it might work. He couldn't use a skill properly without holding the noble phantasm it comes from but he had learned. He was unable to use the full skill but 30% is enough.

Shirou jumped back and took up a stance of preparation, the soldier knew that if he got within striking range without a plan he would lose. A plan was formed, the soldier would circle around the boy quickly to attack from the rear. He ran towards Shirou before sliding to the left, stepping within a short distance he could use to land the last strike.

Shirou was faster however "Fake Nine Lives; Three lives", Shirou's sword flashed out. Leg, Arm, Throat. The soldier's leg was cut and bleeding, the opposite arm was broken and Shirou now had a blade to the soldier's throat.

The soldier laughed and called out "Well done, we will leave you alone. for now." Shirou sheathed his sword and walked over to the cart.

Shirou's party moved on. The commander watched them leave with a slight smile before telling his men "Send word to the next scale, if you duel the boy you will lose so find a different way to obtain his surrender."

* * *

Shirou was once again sitting in the cart, he was again considering his new sword.

Yes it wasn't that impressive even considering some of the weaker and cheaper noble phantasms but it would have to do.

His Unlimited Blade Works was a copy of Archers, it was not made by him. That is important as it shows another reason why he now didn't want to have to overuse Unlimited Blade Works.

It was after the battle against the fairies that he noticed, his Unlimited Blade Works had a flaw. Archer had created it as one who followed the absolute path of the hero as Archer had travelled that path a long way before mastering it, even when he started to hate the idea that was still the path he followed. Archer was a counter guardian who saved the majority at the cost of the minority, even has he cursed that path he didn't waver.

Shirou was different, he had chosen a different route as the grail war ended. Shirou was a hero who would save those he loved then try and save the majority. He was a selfish hero.

At first this had been fine, for a long time it looked like Unlimited Blade Works was unaffected by the change, the problem was that the flaw was growing slowly like a pothole in the road.

Shirou's Unlimited Blade Works was breaking, the most he could do to hold off the damage would be to never use it in full and to only trace when he had too.

Thus even as he disliked the sword it was still better than his soul collapsing.

* * *

End of chapter

Fake nine lives is completely non-magical, in Exalted terms it's just a flurry.

For the UBW stuff may I direct you to the scene in heaven's feel where Shirou has archers arm and says "Unlimited blade works can't be used, my internal world is too different from Archers"

Shirou noticed the problems after the fey as that was the first time since the end of the war he had used UBW (As the fey were in a chaotic space there is a chance that if he had used it in creation proper it would have just broken)


	39. Chapter 30

A few steps from safety

* * *

The road was cold in the early morning. They had set of early to try and avoid the next group of troops that were after them but the way was hard. More than once the group had been forced to go off road to escape an ambush and that had resulted in the cart breaking a wheel. A replacement had been quickly fashioned but the cart would still not last long.

In his heart, Shirou hoped that Nereth or Rai would arrive to pull them out of this trouble. They didn't know where the cart was so they couldn't but it was a nice thought.

At the current rate of travel they would be found before they made it to the Tepet Manse that they had been directed too. Shirou was spending most of the time trying to think of a way out of the trap that was being placed around them. The best he had currently was to send someone to the manse directly to ask for help. It would require the runner to make it quickly and not be found on the way.

Besides the road were trees that obscured the area around the cart from sight. There could be an army in those trees and he might not notice.

The messenger plan was really the only one he could think of so he began to wonder who would act as messenger, a few of the guards for the cart looked swift but the question of "Could they make it?" still weighted heavy.

He could do it, probably. He had the tools for one person infiltration in his reality marble, the risk of that marble cracking under the strain was the very reason he had yet to suggest the plan to the others.

As the trees grew fewer, Shirou could look out over a ridge and see a large lake between them and their destination. They would have to go around and that would take time that could be used for the army to catch up.

Alternatively that lake was one of the last things between the them and safety, if they could get them to send a boat over to collect them then they would be able to get to their destination without problem. As the sun rose slowly, Shirou told his plan to the servant of Nereth who was technically leading the group.

The man nodded, the plan would be carried out.

* * *

Shirou walked leisurely toward the lake, He wouldn't creep if there were no way to hide. Broad daylight did make stealth a bit hard.

He had decided to take the shorter left path round the lake, it had the downside of less cover but if he could get through it quickly he could have the help for the cart faster.

Everything was going to plan until he heard the sound of a sword being drawn. Some of the only cover on this side of the lake was a few large boulders and stepping out from behind one of them was a soldier in armour with a drawn sword.

The soldier said something, probably low realm as Shirou didn't understand him. Shirou didn't hesitate a moment longer, he drew his sword and squared off against his new foe. When the soldier came in to cut him Shirou ducked his sword then stood up and stabbed for the man's waist. His first stab missed so he was forced to throw himself away from another attack from the soldier. This time Shirou threw himself into the attack, A pair of attacks was performed. The first was a cut towards the soldier's sword arm, it was parried but it was never the target. The second blow landed cleanly, a stab into the area just below the neck. The soldier's armour didn't protect it and the blow was likely fatal.

Shirou looked at the dying man and said a quick apology, the man wouldn't understand and couldn't respond but it felt right.

* * *

He ran on and made it to the entrance to the manse's ground, he informed the guard at the gates of what was going on and he sent a message to the manse. A few minutes later Nereth, Rai and someone Shirou didn't know got to the gates. The new man appraised Shirou as Rai stayed behind to collect a small force for if it was required.

Nereth, Shirou and the new man returned to the cart together. Together they brought the cart back to the manse, when the force tried to jump them Nereth stated that she was a Dragon-blooded of house Tepet and that the soldiers were going against the dragon's will by attacking her.

She made a small speech of it and after the end of the speech many of the soldiers threw their weapons down.

Without much more hassle the cart and all the artefacts had made their way to their destination.

* * *

End of Chapter

Yes I know this chapter wasn't very good and it was short, I had no inspiration for this part and I just want to get to the later parts of the story.

Also this "Escorting cart mission had been going on for far too long"

Next chapter will hopefully be better.


	40. Chapter 31

Preparation and Practice

* * *

When he and the cart had arrived they had been rushed into the manse.

The Tepet manse was vast, Shirou wanted to compare it to something but he was having trouble finding something to adequately compare it to.

The previous manse he had been to in the far east had been about as large as the house he had grown up in but it had three floors. This Manse on the other hand was at least as big as the Einzbern castle if not larger.

This large manse seemed to be built with similar architecture but where the one in the east had been wrapped in trees, this one was made of sturdy stone that his structural grasp informed was mined from deep below ground.

To simplify, while this one could be called 'Earth' the last would have been called 'Wood'.

In this mansion he was rushed to a spare bedroom, he was told to rest and to "make himself presentable". Shirou didn't know why they wanted to show him off but Nereth clearly wanted someone to be impressed.

During the journey his clothes had been damaged and made dirty so he was pleased when a servant delivered another robe with the Nereth's crest on it as he didn't have the materials to wash and repair the old one. For his own appearance he had a basin with which he could wash his face and hands but he'd have to wait for a proper wash apparently.

Finally Shirou laid down on the room's bed, for the first time he had been in creation he wasn't travelling. It gave him a chance to slow down and think properly.

This room was no workshop but he could at least practice here. He looked for something to practice with, the room didn't have much; A bed, the basin and a cupboard were the main things in the room. He decided to use something he was already carrying and took out the sword he had been given. He sat on the floor and placed the blade before him and focused.

Reinforcement was what he used to practice all the time but since he felt like he understood it now he was trying to practice the third piece that accompanied it and Projection; that magic was Alteration and according to his memories it was what Archer had used to turn swords into arrows. Shirou might be able to copy Archer's arrows but if he ever needed to create one of his own he would need to Alter it.

In his world Gaia "Acknowledged" that objects had certain properties, Alteration was the magic to alter those properties. To make a sword into an arrow you give it the property of "Arrow".

Shirou meditated and touched the sword, he wouldn't turn it into an arrow as he still needed it to fight with but he would make it a blade he was more comfortable with.

It held a few properties currently, "Sword", "Steel" and "Sharp" to make a note of some of the strongest. Shirou focused on "Sword", he would alter it to become "Curved Sword".

He focused, the process fixed in his mind.

"Trace on"

In a moment the blade before him had transformed, it was now a curved sword like one of the married swords.

It was more fragile now, its "core" had been altered. A bit of Reinforcement magic when combat arose would push that problem aside for now.

As long as Unlimited Blade Works was damaged, Shirou would have to rely mostly on his older skills. If he couldn't Trace he would have to Project, if he didn't know how to Project something he would Alter it, if the Altered weapon was too weak he would Reinforce it.

It would do, at least until he found a way to trace safely again.

* * *

After some more practice Shirou returned to the bed to rest again. He thought of his friends, he thought of those he cared deeply for and he thought of home. Would he ever return home? He hoped so.

When he got home, would Sakura and Rin still be waiting for him or will they have moved on with their lives?

He hoped that that he would be able to return to them, if he couldn't then he hoped they would move on.

As he wondered, a maid entered the room and bowed to him "Master Shirou, the Lady Nereth wishes you to come to the meeting room. I am to guide you."

Shirou nodded and he stood up to follow her.

The corridors were made of the same stone but it appears that someone had thought to smooth and paint them with complex designs and art. the floors were carpeted but Shirou could still feel the solidity of the stone underneath.

The maid led Shirou to a large door and opened it, as she did she announced to the room "Lords and Ladies, Master Shirou has arrived."

Within the room was a table, sitting at it were a collection of people that Shirou took to be other members of the Tepet family. Near the foot of the table Nereth and Rai sat. Nereth motioned for him to take an empty seat to her right and he did so.

He glanced at the other people at the table, most of them were looking at him as if sizing him up. He wondered what they had been told already.

The head of the table was empty, the last guest had yet to arrive.

Just as Shirou thought that the door swung open and another maid announced "Lord Tepet Tilis Phenion has arrived"

A man walked into the room and Shirou knew that this man was powerful, he could feel something like a pressure on him.

The man sat at the head of the table and stroked his long white beard as small gusts of wind disturbed it.

He looked around before settling his eyes on Shirou though it was not to him that the man spoke "So Nereth, what have you bought us from the west?"

* * *

End of chapter

From the top:

The Tepet family are mostly wind aspect, they are in an earth manse here because this isn't their main manse, just one of the major ones

My presentation of Alteration is based off the alteration used in the story "From Fake Dreams"

As with most of the exalted characters I use, Tepet Tilis Phenion is a character I made up to be one of the leaders of house Tepet as I couldn't find anything about it when I looked for info

I hope that you found this chapter better than the last one, I didn't actually plan much for the blessed isle so I am mostly winging it for now until I can find a way back to the planned story with Shirou


	41. Chapter 32

New allies

* * *

The meeting room went quiet as now everyone was looking at Nereth or Shirou.

Lord Tepet Tilis Phenion had arrived and asked Nereth who Shirou was and why he was brought.

Nereth took a breath before starting "My lord, while I was searching for Artifacts to aid us during the upcoming war," there was a gasp from some of the less informed people at the table as she continued "I discovered this man and his abilities. I decided he should return with me so we can make use of his talents in the war."

Nobody asked if Shirou had wanted to come, they were all simply used to an old saying "When the dragons speak, man obeys." which shows how the interactions between dragon-bloods and mortals should go. To their knowledge Nereth simply ordered Shriou to accompany her back here.

At the head of the table the lord spoke "Very well Nereth, and what abilities did you see in him?"

Nereth considered for a moment before nodding to Shirou. He was confused for a moment before realising that he was to show off his ability. He couldn't risk tracing anything big at this moment so he focused on his sword that he had left in his room.

He performed the steps and the sword was in him hand. Gasps of surprise filled the room as Nereth explained "As far as I can tell he can create artifacts from nothing more than essence. His power could be used for outfitting our troops for the war with artifact-level equipment." More gasps rose up but the lord at the head of the table had a grim expression.

The whisper began somewhere around the table that he was an Anathema, after a moment the lord spoke "Nereth, if this man is an Anathema then you will be charged appropriately." Nereth lowered her head in a small bow as the lord continued "If this man is somehow still a regular mortal then this goes against the dragon's teachings. He can be no more than a secret weapon of last resort. If it is known we harbour a possible Anathema then we will lose much of our support."

The table went quiet again before the lord nodded once more "He shall be valuable if used right, well done Nereth."

Nereth beamed with joy as the lord looked first at her and then to Shirou. He then asked a question "Boy, will you support the Tepet house during the upcoming civil war?"

Shirou nodded and he felt it really was true, this great lord had a strong personality. He had agreed to support Nereth before so his answer wouldn't change.

The great lord nodded to a servant who then escorted Shirou back to his room as the meeting continued.

* * *

Hours passed as Shirou waited and did some practice. He had been forced to stop practising with his sword as when he had tried to alter it again he had found that it seemed to be trying to throwing his magecraft off. He didn't quite understand it but he now had a faulty sword so he decided to practice projection.

During the Holy Grail War he had thought that he was using projection where in reality he had been tracing, after the war Rin had forced him to learn normal projection as it was still in his area of expertise. The reason that she had taught was certainly not a way to produce perfect crystals, she denied anyone who might say otherwise.

Regardless to that Shirou had learned projection. No projected weapon could equal the things he could trace but they were still good for situations like now.

He projected copies of the married blades before practising his swordplay with them, they didn't have their legend when projected so their title of married blades weren't entirely accurate. When projected they would not be pulled towards each other so a more useful strategy would be just to project a lot of them and throw them.

As the night continued he eventually got tired and began to prepare for bed. Before he actually began to sleep a servant came into his room to announce a message "Lady Nereth would like you ready to travel tomorrow morning."

Shirou sighed at the news, if he were going to continue travelling he would appropriate that this sleep would be on a comfortable bed.

* * *

In another world of Malfeas, Sakura sat drinking tea. Normally tea would be hard to get a hold of in the yozi's prison but Sakura had learned how to obtain some creature comforts from creation by talking to the servants of her previous incarnations.

A servant knocked and entered her lounge, it was one of the demon-blooded servants. The woman handed her master a letter containing orders.

Sakura opened it and smiled, Shirou had been found and would be travelling south. As she continued reading she grimaced slightly before folding the letter again and throwing it into the fireplace.

Her servant was still bowing so Sakura ordered her "Stand, go to the gates and request passage for me through the inauspicious gate to the south."

The servant stood and left the room to fulfil her mistress's order.

Sakura lay down on her sofa to think. In her mind were two thoughts, first was a thought of "I need to keep him safe!" and the second being something darker "I could now claim him just for myself."

She shook her head to clear away the darker thoughts while her mental guest chuckled.

She stood to prepare to leave, she would need the new gifts and treasures she had obtained. She would follow her orders if she had to but before all else was her senpai's safety.

She would avoid fulfilling her orders as long as she could as they were slightly disgusting for her. She had heard that resisting orders could lead to punishments but in this case she was willing to risk it to hold off on completing the orders.

The orders were to seduce Shirou into working for the Yozi.

* * *

End of chapter

I am FINALLY getting to the south arc, I did not expect it to take this long to get here.

Anyway, leave a review if you like. I hope people thought this chapter was okay as personally the quality felt lower on these last few chapters.


	42. Chapter 33

The southern port

* * *

After he had woken up in the morning, Shirou had prepared to travel. Within an hour or two Nereth had called for him and the two of them left the manse with a group of her retainers.

Nereth had explained that they were travelling south to meet up with the Tepet choice for the new empress as she was gathering her forces in the south. Shirou merely shrugged, the sooner the war ended the sooner he could devote himself to finding a way home.

It had crossed his mind that from what he had learned from Archer, war was hell and it would break down a hero. If he got the war done quickly enough then there would be relatively less bloodshed. It wasn't perfect but it was a plan.

* * *

They reached the port after a few days of travel, the ship had been chartered already so all they had to do was wait for it to depart.

Shirou stared out over the railing of the ship towards the port. He was doing far more travelling in creation then he ever did back home and it was giving him a chance to see so much that he had never seen before except by proxy in Archer's memories.

His thoughts were cut off as Nereth walked up to him followed by a young servant. Nereth gestured at the young boy and spoke "This is Trin, if anything goes wrong on this mission and we are separated he is to go with you to act as a translator and a guide as he is from the south."

Shirou glanced at the boy who nodded then spoke in shaky high realm "Nice to chat- I mean talk to you sir."

Shirou shook his head and replied "Good to have you but please don't call me sir."

Trin looked surprised and then nodded, Nereth had left to keep an eye out for problems and Trin stayed for a bit before leaving to speak with the remaining servants.

Shirou decided to relax in his cabin for a bit too as it was still over an hour till the ship was meant to leave.

As he lay in a hammock he thought of Saber, he was sad for many reasons when he thought of her. While both Rin and Sakura love him he feels wrong that he would care for the two of them the same as his old servant. He missed her and felt like he was betraying the others because of it.

He remembers her face during the final moments of the war, the use of the blade of light had made her unable to stand as her mana supply ran out. She smiled at him, he smiled back to her and then went to check on Rin and Sakura. He had not seen Saber again.

She had faded away while he had been checking on Sakura, by the time Sakura was thinking clearly again it was all over.

Shirou wondered if Saber would have talked with him for a time if he had gone over to her rather than right to Sakura. Sakura hadn't needed him immediately, the strangely curved dagger that Archer had given to Rin had been enough to break the grail's hold over her.

He stared at the ceiling, it was odd that these thoughts came to him now. He had thought them all the time just after the end of the war but this was the first time in a while.

* * *

He was almost asleep when he heard a call "Sir Shirou, Lady Nereth requires you." he looked around and saw a servant bowing while standing in the door frame of the room. Shirou got out of the hammock and rushed to the deck to see what Nereth wanted.

She was looking over the railing while grimacing. When Shirou walked over she muttered "Seems I have to use the plan sooner than I wished."

Looking over at Shirou she explained "There are members of the rival faction entering the dock, they seem to be doing it slowly to avoid notice but they likely intend to burn the boat that we are on and claim it was an accident while secretly capturing us."

Shirou nodded and she went on "Trin will be your translator, I will order the ship to leave early before disembarking to stop them getting a ship to follow you."

Shirou's eyebrows rose and he asked "Won't they still try and capture you?" Nereth smiled "They won't be able to, I'll find a way to meet up with you again but for now, When you get to the south stay in the port unless they come after you, if they do gather food and water and travel into the desert."

Shirou nodded as Nereth left to inform the captain of the change in plans.

* * *

As the ship raised anchor the soldiers got jumpy, they had let the ship depart safely. However when they saw that Nereth had departed before the anchor was raised they became curious.

Nereth looked at the group of disguised soldiers and smiled a mean-spirited smile.

She sauntered over to them before asking "And what are you fine folks doing this afternoon, I hope that firebomb in your pocket wasn't for my ship?"

The soldier who had the firebomb took a step back in surprise as Nereth's smile grew larger, she continued in a sarcastic voice "I do apologise but the ship is leaving so you might have to use that firebomb on something else. Yourself perhaps?"

* * *

Shirou continued to watch the dock as the ship departed. He expected Nereth to be fine as she was still a dragon-blooded and they were not.

Regardless for the first time since coming to this world he had no true "Guide". There was Trin of course but he was more of a translator and a guide to the region. He had nothing to tie him down until Nereth got back into contact.

He wondered if the south had any great libraries of magic.

* * *

End of chapter

skipped travelling to the port, probably no-one cares.

Regardless we are finally doing the south arc aka the arc that I wanted to get to for ages as it will actually do things rather than just travel around.

Anyway, thank you for reading.


	43. Chapter 34

Settiling in

* * *

When Shirou's ship landed in the south city of Chiaroscuro, Shirou and Trin disembarked.

Shirou looked up at the city in awe, it contained many great buildings seemingly cast from glass or crystal. Everything in the city looked to be polished to a shine.

Trin looked over at Shirou's expression and smiled before explaining "This city was suposedly created by the dragon-blooded out of magically strengthaned glass during the first age, the technique has been lost but they are still building with glass and a few other materials so many years later."

Shirou nodded before asking "Is there anywhere you know in this city that we can stay?"

Trin pulled out some written notes and flicked through them until he found a map. He looked around it before pointing to a building in the old part of town.

"This would work, it is a Tepet guest house, as long as we show that we wear the Tepet symbol and that we were sent by them then it should be fine."

"A Tepet guest house?" Shirou queried and Trin explained quickly "All the royal families are extreemly wealthy with a few exeptions, they tend to not only have lodgings in big cities but they also have lodging for guests of the family."

The two of them walked to the guest house to move in, neither noticed the shadowy figure following them from the port but by the time they reached the guest house they would be hard pressed to recognise that anyone was following them due to the crowds.

They used the bell at the door and after a few moments a servant opened the door. Shirou explained that he was traveling under the orders of Nereth Tepet and he requested use of a room in the guest house for his stay in Chiaroscuro, Trin then simarly explained his own reasons for being here and they were both admited in.

The guest house was largly built of sandstone but almost any room in the building had large windows of the city's coloured glass. Shirou and Trin settled in to their rooms once they were shown them, they then met up to plan.

Nereth had requested or ordered them to stay in the port unless they were targeted so Trin's idea was simply to keep down and not to make a fuss. Shirou on the other hand was for the first time in months feeling free. He wanted to do something with this freedom even if he did stay within the city limits. Eventually Trin gave up on trying to talk sense into him so he made a suggestion "Maybe the undercity would be interesting to explore Mr Emiya?"

He explained about the undercity and how it was filled with other left over dangers from before much of the city was destroyed by earthquakes. It was currently used for the black market and for scavengers to search the subterrainian labrynth for first age relics.

"I think it would be an interesting exploration, " said Shirou "We might also be able to help some people down there who have gotten lost or trapped."

Eventually the two agreed, Trin half-heartedly, to begin exploring the undercity the day after next.

* * *

Nereth had returned to one of the smaller Tepet houses in the southen port of the blessed isle. Rai and Harada had travelled from the manse to discuss what should be done now.

They had to wait for a new sailing ship bound south to meet up with Shirou so they simply decided to wait and enjoy themselves.

There was a theater, not one grand enough to cater to the dragon-blooded but it was enough for them as it was the best in town. They sat down to watch a play as a group and discussed their plans quietly from their box seats.

It was a good plan, it just relyed on no powerful entity getting in the way. In creation that has a chance proportional to the power of whoever is doing the action so they hoped that they were lucky.

Generally as long as no Anthema, Demon or Fey got in the way it would work out sucsessfuly and they all made it to the south to meet up with Roseblack then the chance of the Tepet family seizing the throne increased signicantly.

* * *

Sakura arived back into the desert. The Anthema Demon tried to get her bearings but was forced to wander in hopes of finding some way of navigating.

In her head the coadjutor spoke simply "Being in the south means going north to meet the shore, the information said he only got here recently so he should still be in a port town."

Sakura glanced up and shuddered, the sun felt weird to her now after being under Liger's green light for a few weeks. She judged from it's position which way north would be and set off. She silently hoped that her Shirou would leave town before she reached him but at the same time she hoped he'd stay where he was.

Sakura's heart was still twisting against itself, she didn't want the job and would have refused to come had the punishments not been explained by one of her servants.

If she went against the Yozi's will to much, the sea that marched against the flames, kimbury her patron, would curse her and turn her against those things that she loved and cared for. Thus either she captured and helped enslave him or she would be filled with hate for him.

She didn't want to feel that way about him, ever.

So she trudged on, hoping that someday she would find some way to save herself. Her coadjutor complained that she should be greatful to serve the yozi.

"All you are doing is seducing the target of your affections, he even likes you back, what is your problem?"

Sakura doubted the demon would understand, it came from a culture where forced intercourse was just a normal part of life.

She continued, hoping that he was wiser than during the grail war and that he would be wise enough to see her as the demon she now was.

She hoped he could forgive her.

* * *

End of chapter

My god the buildup for the end of the first arc is taking a lot of effort to write.

Anyway sorry for no upload last week, I was busy and didn't notice the date.

I really hope I am writing the Fate characters well enough, with each chapter that passes my Shirou feels more off the visual novel to me.


	44. Chapter 35

Going Underground

* * *

It was finally time to explore the undercity.

The first problem was finding a good way down into it, Trin explained the concept to Shirou "The first part of the city built during the first age was amazing and they built both above and below the ground, after a few disasters it was left nearly empty and the underground parts collapsed or combined with natrual caves."

Finding a passage was going to be tricky but the two of them took the most obvious method first, the sewers. They found a hole that led underground to the sewers and they could get through it quickly.

Trin had raised an objection to this way however "Mr Emiya can we not find a cleaner way?" Shirou thought for a moment and ducked into the tunnel to see how messy it was but came back out agreeing with Trin.

They continued to think of ways to get down before Trin's knowlege of history was useful again "There is an area outside of town covered in the broken glass of destroyed buildings, it is boiling during the day but it should have an exit we could use by night."

Shirou decided that scouting the place anyway would be helpful to do during daylight hours so they departed for it. As the approached the glass covered dunes the tempreture seemed to increase quickly. They stopped and looked at the dunes from where they were instead of cooking themselves.

It looked somewhat like water instead of sand, the glass made the light reflect back like water on a sunny day so the dunes were like waves in slow motion and in many diffrent colours.

They decided to return as the sun set so for now they went to have lunch. While they ate, Trin told Shirou more about the history of the realm "-so the Shogunate was an ancient society of the dragon blooded over a thousand years ago. They took over after the Anthema were sealed away and went about ruling in their place. After a few hundred years however a plague, The Great Contagion, flared up and killed over 80% of all life."

"80%? How on earth did that plague appear so fast?"

Trin continued in attempt to answer Shirou's question "They believe it was magic somehow but I really don't know. So the world was dying and then the Fey began advancing from the wyld to reclaim creation. Our mighty scarlet empress used the realm defence grid, a magic weapon of great power, to drive back the hordes of chaos and then crowned herself the empress."

The two of them finished their meals and left, continuing to talk about the history.

"After she crowned herself, the remaining higher ups from the old Shogunate hated her and fled the blessed isle to create armies against her. She turned the realm defence grid against them too and wiped out their armies. Then she stopped, she had destroyed enough."

Shirou digested Trin's words, in his head he kept trying to compare the empress with saber. In his head he wondered "What would saber ask in this situation", but out loud he said "That is quite the story, has she ruled since that day or is the empress her child?"

Trin smiled "We don't know where the empress is now but she is still the same woman who saved us those centuries ago."

* * *

The Sun was setting so the two of them went back to the glass covered dunes, it was much less hot now so the two of them wondered through the dunes looking for a way down.

Their feet displaced the sand as they walked around, at least until Shirou hit his foot on something and took a step back, he would have fallen on to some glass behind him if he hadn't quickly stopped himself.

The two of them bent down to examine what he had hit, it looked like a wide tunnel made of glass or ceramics of some type. It's top was covered mostly by more of the material but they found a hatch that led down into the tunnel.

Below the hatch was a ladder and Shirou started decending first after waiting for Trin to light a torch and drop it into the pit. At the bottom of the pit the torch split apart as it struck something solid but Shirou now knew how deep it was.

He climbed blind for 30 feet before finding that some of the ladder was missing, using the parts of the ladder he did have he managed to climb past the missing rung. This continued to happen as he desended but as he reached 100 feet he reached the bottom of the tube.

He was completely blind down here so he took one of the torches he was carrying (Easy light torches, made with fire dust and used in these sort of exploration missions) and lit it.

The light illuminated the darkness and showed a corridor in front of him, he stayed put however as Trin needed his light to see by.

After a few more minutes Trin stood next to him and lit his own torch. The two then began exploring into the tunnel.

Shirou thought that the tunnel was likely made of fired clay at this point but as he moved on the walls became sandstone. The walls themselves were not decorated but he could tell that they had been created by someone skilled. He assumed that making a round tunnel out of sandstone blocks wasn't easy, it wasn't just an arch, it was an arch with corners removed so it felt like a semi-circular tunnel.

Shirou and Trin kept going until they began to hear some human voices to which they stopped and listened. Shirou didn't understand the language but Trin did a quick translation.

"Hand it over and no-one gets hurt."

"It was my find so I get to sell it"

"You want money to live yeah? Well the artifact will pay for your life as unless you give it to me, you will die here."

Shirou tensed as he heard that, Trin realised what he was about to do but he was too slow to catch him before he darted towards the sounds of voices.

* * *

End of chapter.


	45. Chapter 36

Anthema Assumed

* * *

Shirou dashed through the darkness with his torch towards the voices. A person was in danger and he could help them.

He looked for the light that would likely be held by the group he had heard.

His own torch was being blown by the air rushing past him as he ran towards where he had heard the sound from. The continuing argument allowed him to correct his direction when he took a wrong turn. They were arguing in rivertongue which was better for him as if they had been arguing in firetongue he would never have understood what they were saying

"This artifact is important and I won't hand it over to the likes of you!"

"Then you shall die."

Shirou heard the sound of blades being drawn, he might not have been able to see them to understand them but from the length of the sound it was likely that either shortswords or daggers had been drawn.

"If you will kill me then I will take you with me."

"Two against one? Ha, you have no hope at-"

The voice was cut off suddenly, Shirou wondered why before he noticed there was torchlight on the wall ahead of him. They had likely heard his running feet.

"You, the one down that tunnel. Stay where you are for your own good. If you can't identify us then we have no reason to hurt you."

Shirou tensed before continuing into the room where they all were, before turning the corner he drew his sword.

The room was cylindrical and quite large. There were two men and a woman in the room, one man was standing separate from the other two while holding on to something that looked like a metalic plank of wood. The man and the woman had a shortsword and a long dagger respectively and while the woman's was pointed at the man with the artifact, the man's shortsword was pointed at Shirou.

The sword-wielding man looked disapointed "Seems you don't care for your life."

The man with the artifact took a few steps away from the other two, backing himself towards Shirou.

Shirou took a step forward and signaled for the lone man to get behind him and he quickly did. The pair of robbers looked at Shirou together, Shirou knew that he was good but he didn't know if he could fight two while remaining unhurt.

His combat style was based around controlling how he got hit rather that preventing it outright and it was designed for one on one fights. Regardless he needed to do this.

The male robber sighed before flexing his arms, Shirou was baffled for a moment before the man's muscles appeared to grow several times stronger. The female robber stretched her limbs and just kept stretching until they were at least twice as long.

The man behind him confirmed Shirou's thoughts "They are half-demons," before he continued " you can't win, you should just run. You've given me a distraction to get away and for that I'll thank you."

Shirou smiled in a way that wasn't happy. Fighting those stronger than him was part of his style.

The Half-demon man charged at him and the other man, Shirou slipped to the side before slashing towards the muscles. The demon-blooded managed to throw himself out of the cut's reach before turning on Shirou again. Behind him Shirou was aware of the woman sneaking up on him. That wouldn't do.

He turned while projecting a weapon then threw the now projected blade. It was just a sharp throwing knife, not a Noble Phantasm, but that didn't stop the suprise throw from cutting into the woman's breast area. Shirou had been aiming for the heart but clearly his aim was off slightly as the woman stopped moving to try and pull the knife out.

The demonic man stopped before swearing under his breath "Of couse we have to bring the attention of an Exalted on us."

He took a moment to concider while he parried another attack from Shirou before running away, his female companion began to follow him but was stopped by another weapon being planted in her back.

It was a small and weak weapon, less a noble phantasm than a weak mystic code. Shirou didn't even know the original owner of the weapon but it was in archer's memory regardless.

The cross shaped dagger stabbed into the demon-blooded before she erupted into a fast burning white flame.

Shirou had not expected that to work so well though as far as he knew it had never been tested against this sort of creature before.

The male demon-blooded was still running but Shirou knew that if he went after him he would likely lose his way and become an easy target.

Shirou turned to the man who had been being robbed, the man was slack jawed in shock. A moment passed and the man steadied himself before bowing deeply "That you great Exalted, I am in your debt."

Shirou shook his head, before he corrected the man however he ran off down a diffrent tunnel.

Shirou went back down the way he had come, before finding a panting Trin.

"Sir, how did you run so fast?" Trin panted.

"Let's just leave Trin, I have had enough adventure for today." Shirou replied.

* * *

New weapon:

White Cross Dagger

Unknown original owner (likely a mage or a priest)

Anti-Demon Mystic Code

Single Target

NP rank: E (When at full power)

Intended use: Unknown but theorised to be used in either purifying demonic compounds for use in magecraft or use in slaying demons.

Shirou was supprised by how fast it burned the demon-blood because of it's low rank, he didn't think it was that strong.

The trick is that it's effect of "Purifying via burning" is strengthened depending on the target (Which can cause the mystic code to approach NP strength)

* * *

End of chapter

I won't give Shirou new weapons to often but concidering his current state he has been looking through UBW in detail for low ranked but useful weapons that he could safely trace.

I imagine that EMIYA saw many mystic codes while acting as part of the counter guardians.

I concidered him using a black key until I remembered that Shirou has never been too skilled with them and he doesn't know any of the rites for them, giving him a weak mystic code with this use was better for me.

If you guys think it might be too much then I might change it


	46. Chapter 37

Anthema called

* * *

The next morning Shirou was awoken by a loud noise, it was a great uproar coming from the street. He got out of bed and walked to the window to see the source of the sounds.

On the streets below and around the guest house there was a mob of people yelling something while holding various tools. The crowd had the sort of rage that Archer's memory had stored as "Witch-hunting" eyes.

That wasn't good.

His door was suddenly shoved open, Shirou spun to face it while tracing a throwing dagger but it was a heavily panting Trin and not the faces of a mob.

"Sir, this is a big problem." Trin was out of breath.

Shirou tried his best not to deadpan his responce "Yes I can see that."

The mob still yelled but now the sounds of rocks being thrown could be heard. Shirou turned to Trin and asked "So what are they yelling?"

Trin looked at them and his face went pale "They are calling you an Anthema and a murderer."

Shirou sighed and looked around at the mob again, each expression was filled with anger and hatred. They wore the clothes of the lower class mostly but he suspected that those of higher class wouldn't want to stand in such a big mob in the first place.

Trin was shuffling awkwardly while also looking out the window so Shirou asked him how the riot started. Trin shrugged "I have been here since we got back, they are as much a surprise to me as you sir."

Shirou nodded, his mind running through options for escape but he asked Trin to look for a servant who knows how it got started. Trin nodded again and left the room. Shirou gave him a few seconds to leave before he began searching as well.

Shirou was searching for an exit to the roof, a window would do in a pinch but with the mob throwing stones he didn't want to risk it if he didn't have to.

Another option would be to try and convince the mob that he wasn't an 'Anthema' but as he didn't know the language that was doomed to failure. Escape seemed to be the only option.

He ran around the top floor, looking for another exit. The top floor was mostly for storage apparently like a loft split into multiple rooms. The mess would have made it hard to run but Shirou was deeling with it fine.

After a couple of moments he slowed as he heard someone else running on the top floor. He projected another throwing knife and hid behind a wall. It was only Trin however so he got out of cover and removed the knife.

Trin was panting badly again but he panted out "They are bashing on the doors, trying to break them-" as he said that they could both hear a crashing noise from the bottom floor.

Shirou knew what he had to do. He pulled Trin to the best window he had found so far, it was on the side of the house so it had the least people below. Shirou opened the window and he could hear yelling from below. Trin would likely have told him that they were pointing him out to their allies but Shirou could have guessed that.

Trin followed him out and they both climbed onto the roof. They got onto stable footing on the roof before Trin explained that the mob was caused by a man entering a bar and telling a story of how "That monster burned my love alive below in the undercity."

Shirou first thought along the lines of "I should have killed the other demon too." before another part of his mind took over and he said to Trin "We will have to move fast across the roofs, are you with me?"

Trin nodded solemnly "Until my mistress orders otherwise."

The two took off across the roof tops of the city. They headed for the outskirts of the city as if they could get there they could vanish into the desert sands.

The wind blew past them as the glass that made up the city shone with the light of the morning sun. The mob was following them but it was mostly falling behind other than a few runners that kept pace with them on street level.

Shirou's mind moved as fast as he ran, he thought about what they could do now. Running into the desert with no provisions was suicide. When they finished running they would need a drink.

A choise then, double back to the nearest well or keep running. There was only one safe option. He had a weapon that could produce water from the golden king's storeroom so he kept running.

He didn't have anything for food though but that could be put off for up to a month if they were forced to.

Shirou and Trin were approaching the low parts of the town so they checked on the runners that had been following them, only a few were left but Shirou could tell that they were not normal humans as they were not even panting. Trin on the other hand sounded like he was about to collapse.

Only a small distance remained and there was no way forward on the roofs so the two of them jumped down to street level, Shirou ordered Trin to rest for a moment while he fights their pursuers. Trin ducked into a side street while Shirou faced the 5 that had followed him here.

A few looked at him more with curiosity than anger, one of those tried to speak to him but shirou mimed that he couldn't understand them, those 3 who were curious then just left without fighting.

Shirou was confused but he looked at the remaining two. One was the demon-blooded who had escaped the previous day, the other looked to be a dragon-blood in armour.

Shirou sighed before readying another White cross dagger. He considered for a moment what he should use in his other hand for the dragon blooded before just drawing his sword that was still sheathed.

It wouldn't be easy, a battle to the death. But it would likely be quick.

* * *

New noble phantasm:

The golden axe "Freshwater cutter"

Forseti's axe

Anti-desert noble phantasm

Rank: E

Range: 15

Max number of targets: 13

When this axe is thrown into dry ground it creates a spring of water that can quench the thrist of up to 13 people before running out.

* * *

End of chapter,

Freshwater cutter was introduced because my memories fail me if there are any other weapons that can create water.

But yes, Shirou getting chased out of town. That is a thing.


	47. Chapter 38

Rin in Class

* * *

A few weeks befroe Shirou arived in the south, Rin was annoyed.

In the cold of the north east she was in a class filled with children of a local tribe. The class was being taught in a hide hut that had a few heated stones piled in the center to keep the class warm.

The class was on the language known as "Old Realm" which was apparently the language used for most magic in creation. Normally this sort of lesson would be of great interest to her. The problem was that her class was filled with children that looked to be less that nine years old.

Rin accepted that she was prideful but she could normally ignore her pride to learn things, the priest had taught her to learn in any way that she could after all. but this was stupid.

This had started when she had asked Floating Silver Cloud how she might learn more about sorcery. A few hours before then she had managed to find a book written in Skytongue (The first language she had been taught after her training started) that told of many wonders that sorcery could do.

Her new mentor had drilled into her to ask questions if she wanted to learn something so she had come to Floating Silver Cloud and asked her "How would I grow stronger in my sorcery."

Floating Silver Cloud had concidered for a moment before answering "Little Jewel, there are many paths you might take with that as your goal. Do you ask for a greater understanding of what you possess or new knowledge?"

Rin had responded quickly that she wanted new knowledge as she could always practice her skills later. At that Floating Silver Cloud had smiled a mischievous smile and suggested that Rin may want to go to a class on Old Realm.

Her mentor had left out the fact that for this she would be learning alongside children. The lesson was being taught with them in mind so Rin was forced to translate things like "I am hungry" or "I like cats" into what she saw as a language of magic.

She was convinced that her mentor had used some magic on the class's teacher (A normal human as far as Rin could tell) to convince her that Rin was actually a young child too. Either that or she was trying to embarrass Rin intentionally.

Rin discovered later that both were true to some extent but for now she stewed in her battered pride.

* * *

Just when she was starting to get a passing understanding of Old Realm (At least enough to complain to her teacher in fluent Old Realm), Floating Silver Cloud removed her from the class to teach her 'properly'.

Properly turned out to be forcing her to sit at the top of a snowy hill and 'Feel the flow of essense'.

Rin was going to say something sarcastic but before she could compose a retort she 'Felt' something. A single 'Beat' of a heart perhaps?

She looked at her mentor who was smiling and looking off into the distance like Rin was. Rin searched for the thing causing the beat, she suspected a ley line like in Fuyuki city but what she found was larger still. She couldn't quite reach it but she could feel another pulse as if the heart of the earth beat.

When Floating Silver Cloud saw that she had a good vision of the pulse she directed her vision towards the sky and asked "What sort of sorcery could call water from the clouds?"

Rin concidered before answering "A sorcery based on rainfall, something that caused the cloud to rain."

Flaoting Silver Cloud smiled but patted Rin's head "Little Jewel you think to much of the effects and not the causes, your method would work but if you didn't want to be cursed with drought then it is easier to make a spell that requests heaven alter the weather forcast."

Rin didn't like the fact that cause and effect seemed warped in this world. In this world clay became ceramics when a little god of the fire sang to the little god of the clay, in response the little god of the clay would cause his clay to harden.

This strange effect had caused some of her spells to work strangely in the past, like when she had tried to charge a jewel with essence and the result had been a type of earth elemental that caused a lot of issues before it had been killed.

Creation's Thaumaturgy was simply exploiting natrual laws while her own tried to break them. The reason that sorcery was so interesting was because it seemed to break those rules.

Floating Silver Cloud broke into her thoughts by airly mentioned that Thaumaturgy to call rain was still more efficent than the sorcery. Rain calling Thaumaturgy basically involved creating a large bonfire and having a party around it.

The basic idea of sorcery as Floating Silver Cloud explained it was that you could enact 'Natrual' events in unnatural ways. As fruit falls from trees it is possible to make it rain flower petals that could feed an army (Food From the Aeriel Table was a useful spell so Floating Silver Cloud enjoyed using it as an analogy.) Rin didn't like that, it clashed with the idea of "Magic as impossible wonder" that she had.

One day during this training Rin asked "Mentor, if sorcery was based on natrual laws how did the solars manage things like large explosive orbs of green fire or transporting armies across the world."

Floating Silver Cloud looked up at the sky before replying "Just because a law is natrual doesn't make it normal. For the first the demon Liger's nature was researched and for the second they researched the laws that the maidens use to travel."

Rin wasn't satisfied "So it is impossible to devise a completely unique sorcery?" Floating Silver Cloud thought for a moment before nodding.

Right at that moment Rin decided to create an entirely unique sorcery. She didn't know how but she would do it.

* * *

A few weeks had passed and Floating Silver Cloud gave Rin one last task before her sorcery would grow stronger.

"Little Jewel, you must enter the wyld. Within 40 days you must return. If you return having learnt something important then I shall teach you advanced sorcery.

Rin nodded, with the training she had gained thus far she was much more prepared for the wyld than when she ran from it over a month ago.

Rin carried with her a bag of supplies and looked towards te north-east. She began walking.

* * *

End of chapter

for refrence Floating Silver Cloud is trying to teach Rin the 5 trials of sorcery again so she can reach the maximum that Lunar magic can reach.

I'm trying to decide if I should actually make the Wyld chapter for Rin or just to make a game of madlibs for the chapter.

Timewise, Rin re-enters the Wyld in the present of the story. It is the same day that Shirou woke up to escape from town.


	48. Chapter 39

Desert walking

* * *

Shirou trekked through the desert, Trin by his side.

It had been a day since their escape but they were more hungry than thirsty. Shirou didn't possess a cheap weapon that could produce food after all.

As the sun rose to it's highest point, Shirou and Trin sat down in a shadow made by a dune. While waiting for the sun to lower slightly Shirou took the time to trace the freshwater axe.

The axe was golden and it's original use had been focused on sea travel, it was known as a "Anti-Desert Noble Phantasm" as it reduced thirst. A desert was after all somewhere without fresh water.

Shirou tossed the projected weapon into the ground nearby where a small stream of water jetted into the air from the point of contact.

Shirou and Trin slid down the shadow covered dune to reach the stream and they drank from it. Neither had thought to grab a water container before they left so stopping to use the freshwater axe was the next best thing.

After they had entered the desert, Shirou and Trin didn't talk as much as it would waste energy and thus the days had been fairly quiet.

* * *

Sakura wasn't having a good time either, she had reached the city that Shirou was said to be in but she learnt he had been chased out of town so she turned around and walked back into the desert sands.

Thanks to the blessings of the endless desert she didn't need food or water to survive out here but she might need to learn a new charm to track Shirou's movements.

Her Coadjutor had 'Helpfully' informed her of a charm that would help she didn't like the drawbacks (Even if they would mean little to her now). There was a charm called Intolerable burning truths, it was split into subcharms that dealt with the tenets of the sea that marched against the flames. Sakura already possessed one of them "Trust is naive" which allowed her to make friends quickly at the cost of being unable to believe a loved one has done something wrong (She belived this already basically so no real cost). The charm her Coadjutor was suggesting was another subcharm "Mother before daughter" which would allow her to track her loved ones better at the cost of being forced to never knowingly betray her ancestors.

Zouken no longer existed, neither did Rin's father so she should have been safe but Sakura worried that the sea that marched against the flames might concider Sakura to be her daughter. Sakura worried that would make her unable to resist her urge to corrupt Shirou. Her Coadjutor caused her a minor headache when she thought about that but then it pointed out that the charm also forbids the betrayal of beloved. In effect she could say that a betrayal of him would also be impossible so he was safe.

With a nod, Sakura agreed with her Coadjutor and began learning the charm from her connection to Kimbury.

* * *

The sun was setting on Shirou and Trin, it was to be their second night in the desert since leaving and Shirou was ready. He projected a sword that would sing at approaching danger and stabbed it into the ground, Trin and he then lay on the desert sands.

Unlike earth, the desert of creation's south did not become freezing at night. It was always warm if not burning hot so the two were comfortable without any coverings.

Around midnight the sword began to sing, Shiroiu awoke with a start and casued the sword to vanish to prevent the foes from knowing that he knew. Shirou climbed to the dune's peak and looked around. His night vision was good but he couldn't see anyone around so he slid down the dune a bit so he was just looking over the crest of the dune. The sand was a cream colour so any darker form would be easy to see against it, he needed to reveal as little of himself as he could.

He heard a snake behind him but by the time he had turned to look it was gone, briefly he wondered if it were common for a cold blooded creature to be active this late but he focused on the more important issue of the possible enemies.

A minute passed, then two.

Shirou slid down to his resting place with Trin. Trin was still sleeping but Shirou sat up to watch for a while.

After an hour had passed Shirou tried to project the sword again, only for it to sing the moment it was complete. Shirou knew enough about noble phantasms that this was no mistaken reading. Whatever the enemy was they were likely watching him. He glanced up and around to look for them. All he saw was another snake, A sleeping camel on another dune and an owl flying above him.

An owl? An owl in the desert?

Shirou looked up again and his eyes were not mistaken, a large owl was circling above him. Shirou didn't understand it but the owl was likely keeping an eye on him. He had never needed to shoot a bird before but Shirou projected a simple bow and an arrow before taking aim. The arrow flew straight before striking the owl in a wing. The bird spiralled down to earth quite a distance away.

Shirou felt sorry for it before looking over to Trin, his eyes were open and he was looking at Shirou questioningly.

"Go back to sleep Trin, there is no issue." Shirou quietly spoke. Trin shook his head "If one of us must act as watch then I shall, rest and I shall wake you."

Shirou was confused for a moment, Trin wasn't often this confident but regardless Shirou nodded and lay down to rest.

* * *

When Shirou awoke next morning he was alone, in Trin's place was a simple card written in high realm.

"We await you, travel southwest, if you don't the boy dies."

* * *

End of chapter

Finally, assuming I don't write Rin's next Wyldventure as the next chapter, we are getting to the good part of the south


	49. Chapter 40

A Villain

* * *

Sakura trudged through the sand, she felt that Shirou had changed direction so she had too.

In this desert it got hotter the further south you went so the western direction was actually calming in some strange way. "At least it isn't as hot as it could be." Sakura said out loud and her Coadjutor agreed.

The thing that Sakura worried about more was that her Coadjutor warned her that the Yozi's patience had limits and she was fast approaching them. So Sakura had asked what she should do and the Coadjutor went silent for a moment, trying to judge if they should tell her Sakura reasoned.

"Well, there are these things called Acts of Villainy, The great Ebon Dragon implemented them into the exaltation you now carry." The Coadjutor rattled off as if reading a book, they stopped for a moment before continuing "Almost any demon could point out at least one loophole in them and I am here basically to prevent you abusing those loopholes."

Sakura mused for a moment as she kept walking "Define abuse of loopholes, I want to have an example."

The Coadjutor was silent for a moment before starting "The Act of Villainy for Kimbery is called 'Agony Savoring Mercy' it is performed by sparing a foe so that they might feel more pain. I judge whether a situation might count so for example if you were just having a friendly spar with someone, it wouldn't count."

Sakura vaguely thought of a couple more ways that could be exploited before the Coadjutor spoke again but quieter and slower "Sakura, if you really don't want to seduce the boy forcefully then there is a Act that could work. Szoreny's 'Best Enemy Recognition' and The Ebon Dragon's 'Exquisite Bride Obsession', the first is done by drawing someone you have feelings for into caring more about you and the second is performed whenever you take a step closer to marrying the target."

Sakrua blushed but do to the desert heat it went unnoticed. "That would work" she replied slowly.

She continued to where she felt Shirou from and wondered if she had time to learn more of the endless desert's survival charms before she found him.

* * *

Shirou was walking southwest at the greatest speed he could, he had nothing to lose by being a hero now after all. Those he loved would not be put in danger by this action as they were not with him.

He had once sworn of this sort of heroism but when the options were 'Either I let my friend die or I go to save him' it wasn't really a matter of the people close to him or the masses.

He might even be able to talk his captors out of this plan and thus save everybody. He held out hope even if it wasn't likely.

Within him another crack formed.

* * *

Sakura predicted he was less than a few miles ahead of her, with what skills she did have (including arguing with her Coadjutor about what defined self-interest to make use of the Ebon Dragon's charms for faster movement at night) she was catching up fast.

She didn't know what she would say when she saw him again. She was still using the Ebon Dragon's charm to create a magical disguise for herself that made her look fully human (she had even set it to give her Rin's hair colour) so she hoped that she would meet up with Shirou happily.

After another hour of travel she began to see a large hill in the distance, it was a true hill not a pile of sand.

"That must be his destination." her Coadjutor pointed out, to which Sakura nodded "Probably."

She would have tried to spot anything else about the hill but one of her charms had given her the ability to see in darkness at the cost of making the sun's glare much worse for her. So she simply continued on.

She stopped suddenly when she heard someone say something from behind her "Why are you so far out in the desert, pretty one?"

She spun to see a young boy looking up at her. Quickly she mentally created a lie, reinforcing it with the power of the Ebon Dragon "I am chasing after a friend of mine who came this way."

The boy looked into her eyes as if searching for the truth but he simply responded "Would that be the boy that I saw a few miles ahead of you?"

Sakura didn't know how this boy had snuck up on her so she was cautious but kept her voice strengthened in it's deception "You've seen him?" an excited tone of voice

She had only learned firetongue recently but it was paying off in a big way do to this boy, she could understand him and lie to him properly.

The boy nodded "My family are forcing him to come to them, they have a hostage," the boy briefly turns his head questioningly "I wonder why you were not the one taken?"

Sakura let out a small laugh, making it sound real with the charm then explaining "I haven't been with them for the last few nights."

The boy nodded and started turning away, Sakura needed him to stay silent on her existance so she almost begged "Please don't tell your family about me yet, I won't cause trouble, I promise!"

The boy looked up at her, the magically infused words she spoke worked their way into his mind and he nodded "I won't pretty one, just make your way to the hill, you and your friends will be there before all of you are taken to our base."

The boy finished turning away and when Sakura blinked there was a small bird standing on the sand instead of a boy, Sakura didn't know her birds but it was quite small. The bird boy took off and flew towards the hill.

* * *

End of chapter

The boy was a lunar, his spirit shape is a Wren.

Anyway, while next chapter is a chapter we have all been waiting for a long time. It won't be posted for 2 weeks instead of one, I am on holiday.

May I suggest reading my other stories in that time? You don't have to I just found it strange that it has almost 2/3rds as many words as this story but only 1/3rd the readers.

Anyway have fun waiting for the chapter called something like "A Hero"


	50. Chapter 41

A Hero

* * *

The Spider's of the loom of fate weaved thousands of threads each day, it is not their fault if they miss some important details.

On the hill that had been devised as the meeting place there sat 2 Lunars, A third Lunar was flying back to them. None of their threads had been woven with that of the hill as they had been in the Wyld recently and had not been "Seen" by the loom properly yet.

The loom could see Trin however, tied up on top of the hill. It also could see Shirou at the base of the hill and preparing to climb it.

It also recongnised a girl apparently called "Wry Medus", the name was a fake one crafted by Infernal charms but the loom couldn't tell the diffrence. The woman under the effects was Sakura but the charm was doing a good job of obscuring her name and nature. "Wry" was following Shirou and had not yet reached him.

The loom weaved a tale with thread, even if some thread was missing the pattern could still be woven. It alone knew what was coming though others suspected the truth.

One who suspected was an old sidereal who had been investigating the boy's thread the last few days. He knew that if the suspected event came it would force plans to change.

The coronation would change everything.

* * *

Shirou began his climb, The hill wasn't that steep but it was quite wide so the climb would be relatively painless for him. It was what would happen at the top that bothered him. The dusty winds blew around him as the sun beat down on him.

The climbing was easy going, when he had reached the half-way point he could see the group awaiting at the top. A group of three people were there, all dressed for the heat and the sand. A young boy sat on a rock, A large muscular man stood with arms folded looking down at him and a willow thin woman appraising him.

Shirou watched the three of them as he continued upwards. The three looked at him. There would be no hiding, there didn't need to be.

* * *

Sakura muttered as she climbed the hill, Shirou was almost at the top and she wasn't gaining ground very quickly. If he was dealing with Lunars then she would have to keep him safe, they were savages according to what she had learnt of them in hell. Who knew what plans they had for Shirou/

She watched him reach the top, and saw the three Lunars including the boy she had met. She would need to hurry her pace and keep hidden.

Her Coadjutor made a suggestion and she nodded, in this bright weather it would be harder as the charm to aid in stealth was a dark thing, she did it anyway though and prayed that none of them would spot her until she reached the peak of the hill.

* * *

Shirou faced the three of them.

They faced him.

For a moment no one moved.

Then the willowy woman spoke "Greetings Shirou Emiya. We have things to discuss."

The man grunted "This isn't necessary, it is obvious that that is a false name."

Internally Shirou began to dislike the man but he was cut off from speaking by the boy who spoke first "Give it up Stone, the two of us disagree with your idea."

Shirou looked around as they were distracted by each other to look for Trin, he saw Trin tied up and gagged but awake. Trin's eyes glowed with happyness upon seeing Shirou though.

It looked like the man was going to say something angry but the woman held up her hand "Stone, he is not a fey. I thought I told you that it would have been impossible for him to go to the blessed isle if he was."

The man, Stone, grunted again but didn't say anything. The woman turned back to face Shirou and a lovely smile rose to her face. Shirou would have been enraptured by her beauty but he had lived through the grail war and in his own opinion he had seen better.

The woman's smile dropped a little and she introduced herself and her allies "I am Mountain-lake-sorrows or you may just call me Sorrow, this man besides me is Stone-Breaker and the boy is Fletcher-of-wings."

Shirou nodded to them all. Stone grubled again, Fletcher nodded back then looked behind him as if expecting something.

Sorrow meanwhile had sat on another rock and invited him to join her. Shirou was supprised for a moment but he squinted slightly "Very polite you are being for a kidnapper isn't it?"

Sorrow let out a laugh that sounded like bells before nodding to Fletcher (who still wasn't paying attention), Fletcher looked over and walked over to Trin to untie him.

Sorrow smiled again "I do apologize for that, we needed to see what you would do, if you would actually come after him."

She patted besides herself on the rock, again asking for him to join her. Shirou was wary but he did so. Now he had a chance to think about it the woman reminded him of Rider.

Anyone like Rider could be dangerous so he kept his guard up.

Sorrow explained to him what they were, Lunar Exalted. Shirou got jumpy for a moment as what Nereth had told him indicated that Lunars were shapeshifting savages. Sorrow saw his reaction and laughed again "What you think that we brought you out here just to eat you, no my boy far from it."

She smiled a grin that almost looked preditory "We want to recruit you."

* * *

Sakura climbed quickly, there were few shadows but those that existed hid her.

She began to hear what was being said at the top and she put on a further boost of speed. They were doing the very thing she had been sent to do.

The Lunars were trying to recruit Shirou to aid them.

Her Coadjutor spoke quickly "We have to stop them!" Sakura completly agreed.

* * *

"Recruit me?" Shirou questioned. Sorrow nodded Sorrowfully "Yes, you see we need more help to take back our stolen thrones."

Shirou tilted his head, Stolen thrones? What thrones did they even have.

Sorrow smiled wistfully "The Dragon-blooded exalted stole our thrones and those of our mates. We and our mates should be the rightful rulers of creation."

Shirou's history lessons with Nereth came back to him and he asked "Were your mates the Solar Anthema?"

A growl came from Stone but Sorrow nodded "Yes, but we prefer their true name; the Solar Exalted."

Shirou nodded slowly as the pieces fit together "So you and your mates were cast away and declaired Anthema so the common people wouldn't side with you."

Sorrow nodded, growing joy on her face.

Shirou recalled a bit more of his history lessons and he asked "But weren't the Solars destroying the world when the great dragon-blooded sealed them away?"

The top of the hill was silent for a moment.

* * *

Sakura had almost reached the peak, Shirou was doing a good job of asking the right questions. His time with her sister must have payed off.

* * *

Stone was the first out of his shock, he went to pull a very large war hammer off of his back.

He was growling something but Shirou didn't know which language. Sorrow held up her hand and quickly said something to him in the same language before turning back to Shirou.

She thought for a moment before replying "Yes they were but most of us believe that was because we failed to support our mates properly before. On a side note Shirou, the immaculate dragons were just a made up story. In truth they never existed."

Fletcher spoke quietly as he still tried to look for something "The Solars were killed not only by the dragon-bloods but also by another type of exalted, the Sidereal. In truth nearly the entire population of the dragon-bloods worked together in a plan of genocide."

Sorrow nodded to him and turned to Shirou "You see? we are the innocent party, driven from our homes into the Wyld to hide from those who wished for us to be wiped out."

Shirou was quiet for a moment then he spoke "So you want to recruit me, to aid you in this war you plan?"

Sorrow smiled and opened her arms as if inviting him for a hug "Yes, please lend us your power. You are a hero who saves innocents right?"

Shirou was caught up in her words. While there was no magic in the words themselves he failed to notice that she was using essence to enhance her persuasiveness.

He was about to agree when he heard a familiar voice "Please senpai, don't!"

He turned to see a familiar woman. At first he couldn't place her appearnce but enough stood out to him to be recognisable. The hair was the same colour as Rin's but the style and the eye colour made her identity clear to him.

He didn't know how she was here but he stood up and ran to her.

The two embraced, not as lovers (As Sakura's Coadjutor would have loved) but as friends who had thought the other lost to them.

Fletcher was finally paying attention to the hill top, Stone looked annoyed and Sorrow looked insulted. Sakura didn't much care what they thought, she just wanted Shirou away from the Lunars.

Sorrow still looked annoyed but her voice contained just as much compassion as before "My dear, who are you?"

It was Fletcher who answered that question "A friend of Shirou's I saw her earlier and she asked me not to talk about her till she got here."

Meanwhile Sakura was talking quickly to Shirou "We need to leave, quickly."

Shirou looked into her eyes "They are asking for my help-" Sakura cut him off "They want your help to seize the throne by force, they will make you kill innocents for them!"

The words that Sorrow had spoke felt less real to Shirou after hearing those words and he nodded to Sakura "Okay, but we still need to get Trin out of here."

Trin hadn't spoken in a while, he was just watching the goings on in a mix of confusion and fear. Sakura nodded to Shirou.

The two of them turned back to the Lunars as Shirou spoke clearly "While the offer is tempting I must refuse, innocents would be hurt during your war for your old thrones. I refuse to be a part."

At this stone stood up and drew his warhammer. No one stopped him this time. Shirou doubted that what he still had access to would be enough to defeat a Lunar, he had been told that they were very powerful.

He would need to fight to rescue Trin, running away wasn't an option. He looked at Sakura "Will you help me?"

Sakura nodded "Always."

From Sakura's shadow rose a spear that Shirou had never seen before. Shirou looked at it and realised that currently Sakura's shadow _Was_ a magical weapon. He would ask how she managed that later. For now he reached into his reality marble.

The fractures were spreading. Even if he did nothing it would likely break in a few weeks. If he drew something out now he might very likely cut his life in half or more.

The sword that Nereth had got wasn't enough though. He needed something powerful. While he would love to use Gae Bolg for it's cheap activation cost he was fairly sure that in his current state that it would shatter his reality marble. Kanshou and Bakuya then? They wouldn't be enough for this fight.

They might be his only choice though.

He traced the married swords and felt another large fissure appear in the reality marble. Maybe he had a few days now, maybe less.

He entered his fighting stance, Sakura stood by his side. She wouldn't leave him.

The other two lunars stood up, Fletcher took a bow off his back and Sorrow looked like she was focusing to cast a spell.

Figthing to the death against shapeshifting demigods. There were worse ways to go.

He wished that Rin could have also been by his side.

He smiled. He had been told that he would die alone atop a hill of swords. While this was a hill there were not enough swords and he wasn't alone. He had changed his fate to get a happier one.

Stone ran towards him preparing to strike with the warhammer that was almost as tall as Shirou was. Shirou and Sakura dodged out of the way, Shirou managed to cut Stone on his way past but the wound closed quickly.

Sakura stabbed with her spear, another wound was left that healed quickly.

As stone spun to face them Fletcher raised his bow and fired an arrow from it, it struck Sakura's sholder and she cried out in pain. Shirou turned towards her but an arrow entered his left arm, it cut something important and Shirou was forced to drop a sword.

Stone raised his warhammer and Shirou could see what he was about to do. He was going to destroy Sakura's head!

A roar came from Shirou's throat as he charged at stone, his good arm raised to cut.

Stone saw him coming and punched him away towards Sorrow who gracefully stepped to the side, her attention on Sakura.

Shirou was dizzy. He couldn't lift his arm and Sakura was about to die.

He heard a roaring in his ears and stood up again. He once again charged towards Stone, who turned again. Stone was supprised that Shirou could still stand but he prepared to hit him again.

Shirou had been through enough to dodge out of the way of that strike before trying to stab his remaining blade into Stone's heart.

Something broke.

Shirou looked at the hilt of his shattered sword. Something inside told him "It's over, you're done, give up."

"No." muttered Shirou

Stone smiled cruely before asking "No what?"

Shirou took a deep breath, he could feel... Something coming.

"No!" he shouted

Even in his pain, even having lost so much in this fight he carried on.

Beacause that is what Shirou Emiya does.

A golden light seemed to glow from him.

It grew until it covered his entire body.

On his forehead a mark now burned. A Circle with the top half filled in. It glowed with the light of the sun.

* * *

End of chapter

I must admit that while I have been waiting a long time for this chapter. The actual moment of exaltation felt a little cheesy.

IDK maybe I'll come back to it later.


	51. Chapter 42

Revisiting the lands of madness

* * *

Rin walked through the forest, around her white leaves drifted down from the sky like snow.

She had entered the Wyld a few days before but had yet to truely reach deep enough into it to see true madness. From the information she knew she was somewhere between the Bordermarches and Middlemarches of the Wyld meaning she still had quite a way to go.

There was no way to know how far she must travel or for how long. Both time and distance varied here. She had been given a destination though and had been told how to reach it. The Wyld responds to thoughts and desires, Rin wished to travel into the Deep Wyld so it was likely that no matter which way she walked it would carry her deeper into the chaos.

She was attempting to reach the Deep Wyld via the north-east Wyld so snow and nature were the themes she was seeing. These snow-like leaves were a good example of the things she would be seeing further in. She had departed as the moon was waning for the easiest time exploring.

Her destination was a Manse, a magical fortress, that her teacher had told her existed in the deep wyld. It was protected from the tides of madness via a reality engine installed inside of it among other defenses.

With her goal in mind Rin walked through the leaves that had settled onto the ground like layers of snow.

* * *

The next mad thing that Rin encountered was a winter garden holding strange plants. The plants constantly shifted due to the Wyld but each of them showed off beauty. The garden streched entirely across her view so it was likely that this garden was another waypoint.

Rin stepped up to a constantly shifting garden gate and pushed it open.

Logic said that no garden could survive year round in this cold but Rin knew no logic existed here. It was entirely possible that this garden sprung into existance as she entered it.

Each flower was a Wyld mutant, a plant that have any traits at all.

Her thoughts were confirmed when she saw a pack of small flowers that had the shape of wolves. Each Wolf flower was only as big as one of her fingers but she watched them work together to rip another flower out of the ground and "Eat" it.

She would keep going. While she was seeing so much wonder it was possible that horror might arise at any time.

* * *

When she next realised there was a new madness and so a new waypoint she looked up to see translucent green clouds.

She had no way of examining them so she theorised that they were made of some plantlife of some kind. She was most definitely in the Middlemarches now.

The ground she walked on seemed to be made of compacted snow and she wondered if there was actually any ground beneath her. It didn't matter here but it would help her keep track of how mad the place had gotten.

* * *

Rin wondered if she was going the right way, it had been getting warmer for the last few waypoints and that indicated that she might be heading south without knowing.

It wasn't as if she could look at a map or a compass, nor could she ask the locals for directions. At that point Rin stopped. She could ask the locals for directions, she theorised that she was about in the middle of the Middlemarches so it was very likely that a court of the Raksha hunted nearby.

Her master had warned her about them but had also said that she would almost certainly have to deal with them during her trial so now might be a good time.

She walked to rough center of the waypoint she was in, which was shaped like a hill made of vegetation, and span in a circle. She fixed her thoughts on finding a Raksha court and stopped spinning.

Now she had her new heading she started walking again.

* * *

She had only gone through two waypoints before encountering a Raksha, she was walking through a forest of trees whose needles were made of ice when she saw a being that looked like a man. The differences were obvious however, his hair and finger nails were made of ice and when he turned and smiled at her she could see his teeth were two.

He spoke in a voice like cracking ice but it was still a soft voice somehow "Why if it isn't a young girl, so far out in the Wyld. Are you a young sorcerer my dear?" The Raksha spoke in a strange blending of multiple languages but at it's core was Old Realm so she understood him.

Rin nodded and spoke "And might I take it that you are a Raksha who lives around these waypoints?"

The man licked his lips "Yes my dear, I am a Vagabond Raksha but I don't live here. Not really at least, I travel."

Rin tilted her head "Have you wandered far?"

The Vagabond laughed "Far my dear? I have traveled near and far! I have been everywhere there is to be!"

Rin wasn't fooled, she could see the hungry look in his eyes. She hadn't been taught about the Vagabond caste of Raksha but she suspected that one of this Raksha's feeding graces was the Cup. It wanted to feed on her by making her curious.

So Rin let a false smile rise to her face as she asked "I left from the north east but it has been getting warmer, am I traveling the wrong way."

The Raksha stopped for a moment, it expected her to ask about its adventures regardless it answered "Yes my dear you have, by the compass of creation you are currently at the east-north-east part of the Middlemarches."

Rin nodded "Thank you, please tell me which way I should go to reach the north-east Deep Wyld."

The Raksha laughed again "My dear you don't want to go there surely, I could tell you of greater wonders even closer then that like the great castle of-"

Rin cut it off "No really, I need to get there."

The Raksha went deadly quiet before puffing up his cheeks (Causeing a sound like cracking ice again) in mock anger "My dear, please don't cut me off while I am speaking."

Rin gave a half-hearted apology but the Raksha still accepted it, it stood up and pointed "Just head that way, if you feel you've lost your way again simply wish to be going the right way. You likely got lost in the first place because you let your mind wander off on it's own."

Rin nodded to him and left without another word.

The Raksha pretended to be annoyed again until she was out of sight before speaking to itself "She didn't play along with my act, maybe if I had tried to tell a story instead it might have worked better."

The thing that was a cloud with two mouths shrugged it's fake shoulders and shaped itself somewhere else.

* * *

Rin walked in the pointed direction for a few waypoints before finding a house built of normal materials in the middle of a normal seeming field.

Because this was so orderly she knew how unlikely it was to form out here by chance. It might be here by design instead then. She approached and knocked on the door, when no one answered she looked at the door handle that was made of white jade and tried it.

The door swung open easily, it wasn't even locked. Inside was a small box contaning fresh food.

This was far to likely to be a trap so Rin allowed herself to feel the warped essence of the Wyld. This house had been built using essence, it's owner had not been here in some time but they had used some sorcery or powerful charm to make the house, it's surrounding and it's interior to be highly resistant to the Wylds corrosion.

Rin silently thanked the owner before searching the house some more. The food was being created by an artifact, the box it was it. It was powered by the false ley line under the house so it would be useless if moved.

Also, Rin thought, stealing from a person I am so greatful towards would be wrong.

There were spare rooms and after eating some of the food, Rin fell into this room. For days she had been wandering the Wyld with little sleep and the small amount of rations she had been given. She had some rations left but not enough. She would borrow some more food to ration for the remaints of her trip and come back via this house to stock up again.

Rin slept peacefully and when she awoke she departed quickly, once again thanking the house's owner.

* * *

She was clearly going the right way now, she was in the sky and walking on clouds that had plants growing in them like the clouds were the earth. Finding the right way through the ever moving clouds was annoying but she could always take the form of a bird to cross gaps.

It was slow and annoying but something told her she was almost there.

The main annoyance wasn't the ever-changing terrain however. It was the birds that shot lightning and the trees that kept trying to eat her.

honestly they weren't hard to deal with, the birds could come in swarms but a single sorcery could kill them all and the trees couldn't move fast enough to catch her.

Rin again shifted into avian form and flew on.

* * *

She was there now, she could see her destination.

Up above her on a great cloud was a fortress. The fortress was seemingly an island being held aloft by the clouds. Guess the reality generator only protected the manse itself.

She flew up to the manse and after showing her caste mark she was allowed to enter. The manse held no other Lunars but there was a small tribe of winged Wyld mutants who lived inside and tended the manse.

Rin finally sat down in the great bedroom she had been given. She had reached her journey and now what? She had been recently taught the five trials of sorcery, by reaching her destination that was trial 3 complete. Trial 4 was the trial of fear and 5 was the trial of sacrifice.

She knew what she would have to do now, continue exploring the Deep Wyld until she was faced with a great fear.

Something told her south was the way to go for this so she swore that after she had spent a few days here learning things from the library she would head south

* * *

End of Chapter

Yes, I gave you a cliffhanger on what happened with Shirou and Sakura. In my defense I haven't finished updating Shirou's character sheet (yes I am keeping character sheets for all major characters) yet and I didn't want to write that chapter until I had.

So you get Rin in the Wyld instead

Originally I had planned for only one "Rin returns to the Wyld" chapter but I realised that only one would not be enough for a quest into the Wyld

Regardless I am now going to alternate Shirou and Rin chapters until Rin is out of the Wyld... Probably, if I don't forget


	52. Chapter 43

The Hero's Light

* * *

On top of the sand covered hill the light shone from the new Exalt.

As he focused the light began to wane but it never stopped.

Shirou had heard a voice during that moment, some great being who shone like the sun spoke to him and told him of his new power. The being seemed distracted so it left quickly but Shirou's instincts could teach him the rest.

Shirou tried to analyse his wounds but got a headache, after trying again he found that all of his wounds had closed and healed as if rested for years. However he sensed that Unlimited Blade Works and his tracing were shattered.

He wondered why this didn't instantly kill him, Unlimited Blade Works was his soul. Surely if it were broken he would die?

He felt his new power burning in his soul and saw that it was now holding his soul together, preventing it from braking so it could natrually heal.

Shirou then took stock of what had changed about him before realising that his magic circuits were not in their proper places, he could still feel their power (It was even greater now) within him but they and the small fragment of Rin's magic crest were nowhere to be found.

Finally he saw what had changed on the physical level. His lungs and heart felt stronger so it might have increased his stamina, he reasoned it might be a side effect of the supernatural healing. He felt his face was very slightly different, not enough to hide his identity so he reasoned it might have just been the healing acting wrong.

He opened his eyes and looked at his hands. His vision had clearly been enhanced too, that he could see.

He didn't know what was going on but he felt his new power well up, he looked to the people surrounding him.

The Lunars were in a state of shock with the exception of Stone who just looked annoyed, Sakura was shading her eyes from his light.

Shirou then spoke a few words "I... was that-"

He cut himself off, he was going to ask "Was this an Exaltation." But somehow he knew the answer already. He felt the power flow through him and somehow knew his nature.

He was a Solar Exalt of the Twilight Caste. The Solar Lightning, A Copper Spider, An Arrow of Heaven. It seems the knowledge was placed in his head along with other facts. Even though he had seen little of creations truth he now was able to know it.

* * *

The Lunars looked at the new Solar, Sorrow was the first to speak "Greatings new king, will you help us reclaim your throne for you?" she was grasping and everyone could tell. Shirou looked at her, his Caste mark burning and shook his head, that movement showed his feelings. Even with the influx of power, Shirou was still Shirou.

Sakura squinted at Shirou and now regreted the charm that gave her perfect nightvision at the cost of increasing her sensitivity to bright light, the southen desert had been bad enough for that. Honestly Sakura had expected this, The Ebon Dragon must have suspected he would Exalt by looking at her memories of him. She prayed that he not see through her lies. She then smiled, knowing him he wouldn't notice even if she might drop the illusion while standing before him.

Suddenly the Lunar named Stone charged, taking everyone even his fellow Lunars by surprise. The large man swung his great hammer down to crush Shirou only for him to nimbly dodge out of the way of the weapon.

Shirou stood straight and focused, Sakura wondered if he would trace a new weapon to fight with but he didn't. Golden light played around his hands before coming together in the familiar shapes of his paired swords except now they seemed to be made of sunlight. Sakura's Coadjutor filled her in that those were a pair of Glorious Solar Sabers, charm created weapons.

The twin swords glowed in the same way that Shirou glowed, as the Lunar swung with his hammer again Shirou dodged past his guard and slashed quickly leaving 4 bright cuts on the man's side, only one was deep enough to bleed but it bled for only a few seconds before the Lunar's natrual healing closed the wound.

Sakura blinked, the fight had been going on for about 10 seconds and she had yet to act so she jumped in herself. She stabbed the shadow spear that was part of her Umbral Panoply into the Lunar's side as Shirou distracted him, she breifly thought about leaving the spear in the wound but rejects the idea, letting the spear fade back into her shadow as she jumped back.

The Lunar named Sorrow had been yelling at Stone from the moment he charged, he hadn't been listening. He swung his goremaul again, his target dodging again so all the attack did was throw up sand.

Shirou knew instinctively that he had only his own power to deal the final blow, even if he now felt himself able to fight servants it wasn't like he had a killer attack that could allow him a certain win. With his infinite forge broken he couldn't just pull Gae bolg or something else to win this fight, he needed to do it himself.

Shirou dropped into his standard stance and as the hammer was swung for him he leaped onto the swinging hammer shaft, he then leapt again to land behind the Lunar.

He readied his golden weapons and took aim, just as the man began to turn Shirou struck 3 strikes against the tendons at the back of the legs and another going to the Lunar's heart from behind.

The Lunar cried in pain as he turned and Shirou saw horns emerge from his head, the Lunar's body grew hair and Shirou could see beastial eyes filled with pain and hatred. His new stock of information was called on and it answered.

"Some Lunars possess a 'War form' where their human form takes on elements of their spirit form to improve their odds in a fight."

The beast tossed away his hammer into the sand and charged at Shirou, his palms ready to grab him and rip him apart, Shirou dodged but apparently he was becoming predictable as in a fluid motion the Beast reached out and clawed at him

Shirou felt the gash from the man's hardened nails and held back a grunt of pain. The beast struck again in quick succession, Shirou tried to parry them all but a few blows landed, Shirou felt that he was still healing faster as he saw one such wound close quickly.

As the beast readied another attack he cried out in pain as his back was now covered in arrows, Shirou glanced around and saw Sakura holding a pitch-black bow standing besides the other Lunars. The Lunar named Sorrow finished some sort of chant and in her hand apeared a small pinkish-white light.

Before the beast could attack again Sorrow ran forwards and pressed the light into him, it grew to cover his body and the beast went limp and fell to the ground.

* * *

A few seconds passed and the Lunars dragged their ally away to tend to his wounds. Shirou (who had finally stopped glowing so Sakura could look at him properly) and Sakura walked a bit down the hill to talk.

Shirou told Sakura about his journey so far. Sakura made a few edits to her story to tell him a version of her tale where after she was captured by the cult she escaped on her own and decided to follow his trail.

Shirou didn't say anything so Sakura assumed he accepted her lie and the two sat there together enjoying each other's presence.

Shirou streached his hands out in front of him while remaining silent likely he was upset about Unlimited Blade Works, Sakura put her hand in one of his and smiled at him before speaking "I'm sure it will heal in time, if your power is splinting it then it must be trying to heal it too.

A sad smile came to Shirou's face "Yes, but now most of creation sees me as a demon." he looked to her quickly "After this you need to leave, I'll try my best to be a hero but you could still be accepted in society to find the way home."

Sakura sighed and spoke warmly while imitating Rin "You idiot, as if I would let you get away from me again after finding you. We will both go back to civilisation and find the way together. If anyone asks we could just lie about your powers."

An argument rose to Shirou's mind but he squashed it and just enjoyed the time with Sakura.

* * *

End of chapter

This was not the best fight I have ever written, I think that it came down to that Shirou doesn't yet have any charms that allow him to reach what he could do with UBW. For those of you worried about UBW it will heal at some point, when it does it will be better than ever.

Shirou's exalted changes are as followed;

His Stamina, Charisma, Appearance, Perception and Intelligence have improved

His skills in his knowledge (lore), Athletics and dodge have increased

His charms vary but he has charms for Melee, Archery, Integrity, Resistance and Craft (he has a lot of craft charms)

His virtue flaw is Conviction-based (obviously) but I will talk more about this later

Counting his Solar essence Shirou is now capable of using 2.5x the Magic power his was capable of using before.

I will answer other questions as they come up.


	53. Chapter 44

The performance of madness

* * *

Rin had been reading for a few days in the flying fortress and she realised that she should leave already. The books were interesting but they weren't the reason she was out here. She packed a small bag with what the winged mutants could provide her and (After saying her farewells to the mutants) leaped off the top of the castle, turning into her owl form mid-fall.

She landed softly near the edge of the waypoint and continued on back into the deep Wyld. It continued the theme of plant covered clouds with slight varients for a couple of waypoints before becoming something completly diffrent; A land where snow fell up to catch in the roots of flying trees. The snow was red here though and from what Rin could tell it was slowly changing throughout the spectrum of light.

It was only at the next few waypoints that Rin finally understood, The next few were an Airport made out of ice. An honest airport like the type from Earth. The ice that made up the airport was coloured so the only easy ways to tell the Wyld had influince was that she kept slipping and everything was a bit more shiny.

Even the signs were written in Japanese, this entire waypoint felt odd to her. She tried to make her way through quickly and by the end was basically skating towards the edge of the waypoint.

* * *

A while later she was fairly confident that she had reached the eastern deep Wyld. She saw saplings grow in seconds into old trees before growing seeds and throwing them all over the place. The tree would then die and new saplings would rise where the seeds fell. She was watching closely so she only just noticed before a tree tried to grab her in vines.

The tree quickly died but the seeds it had left started moving through the ground as they grew as if they were hunting her.

Rin ran from the trees. She didn't doubt her power but seeing how fast they replicated she didn't want to stay there to be chased by a forest.

Beyond that waypoint looked to be a herb garden, Rin left it alone as she was sure that most of these herbs would be highly poisonous.

* * *

She travelled further south and started seeing more marshland as she walked she saw such sights as bright white jungles growing out of green sand or trees with everburning leaves.

Time wasn't working normally so she had no idea how long she had travelled, it could have only been a few hours or it could have been months. The length she had travelled showed that it's minimum was likely to be a little over a week.

She finally arrived where her feelings had led her; The ground was covered in sand and a great structure of cloth and ribbons stood in her way. She knew that as long as she followed her goal of getting to the peaks of sorcery she would be led back here even if she were to go around.

Her instincts told her, the only way to find the end of the quest was to go through and face whatever was inside.

She stepped up to it's side and heard a crowd roar from inside, The mash of diffrent voices showed that likely all types of beings were in attendance. She lifted the flap and stepped inside.

Within the palace of cloth the light danced, it passed through the many colours of cloth to fill the hall inside with light of all colours. around the edge was seating full of beings of all kinds. She saw mortals and fey, gods and demons. All watching as a young boy with a sword that was too heavy for him fight a tiger.

The center of the ring was splattered in blood and the crowd cheered again, Rin looked on as a Raksha made of fire and dressed in fine clothes that were not consumed by the fire stepped into the ring. The Raksha held his hand high before calling out in old realm.

"My friends, we have yet more acts. This circus will never run dry." The Raksha glanced towards the door as if he already knew Rin was there.

"As of yet today we have only seen fights on the scale of mortals, raise your voices to see a greater fight!" At his words the crowd roared.

He signed for them to quiet before walking over to Rin and handing her a letter, Rin opened to read the following;

"Greetings Lunar, many of your kind come this way on their trials of sorcery. The story of this place then is that 'It is required to pass to reach your goal'."

Below this was a chibi drawing of the ringmaster bowing and a few more words "The test is simple, a single fight against any foe I decide, if you refuse you can leave now but you can never learn celestial sorcery from the Wyld again."

Rin concidered the letter before nodding. She looked to the ringmaster and spoke in old realm "If you allow me to pass to find the last trial after a single fight then I accept your terms."

The Ringmaster clapped his burning hands excitedly before running back on stage.

"Friends the time has come, A Lunar Exalted seeks to pass my circus and a trial will be set!" the ringmaster beckoned Rin to approach the ring before looking to the crowd again "She will face one of my newest beasts. Lady Luna's chosen shall face the fallen."

The ring master held up a cane he wasn't holding a moment before. He spun the cane around as mist rose from the floor nearby to reveal what appeared to be a cow bound by silver chains.

"The conditions for this fight are as followed; Should the challenger manage to kill their opponent then they shall move on in their quest. Should the hunter kill them then... well... I don't think that needs to be said" The Raksha smiled up at the crowd before jumping out of the ring.

Around the 'Cow' the silver chains broke and it began moving slowly towards Rin.

Rin's mind worked quickly producing a number of possible identities for her opponent. Her two clues reacted together; It was a hunter that took the form of a cow. A little voice then added "No one cares what happens to it either."

It wasn't a god then or it wouldn't still be here, it wasn't likely to be a demon as it took a normal looking form. Rin backed up as she thought only to be stopped by a ring of fire that rose around the ring.

Rin continued thinking "It won't be a normal cow of course, a magic breed perhaps or a Wyld-mutant. A Wyld Mutant, maybe a Behemoth?"

Rin steeled herself before running around the cow as she heard the crowd boo. On the other side of the ring she focused and performed sorcery.

5 seconds was all she needed to cast the spell, she needed time to cast so she had run so the cow would fail to catch her.

She focused and chanted "Ice forms crystals, crystals fall and strike, sting mine enemies, oh hornets of ice! _**[Sudden Frost]**_ " Over the roar of the crowd and the commentary from the ringleader, Rin could hear the crack as the word of sudden frost froze the essence in the air.

Sting of the ice hornets had been the first sorcery she had learned, Only one step left to complete the casting, She pointed at the cow and in the air around her needles of ice appeared. The ice flew through the air to strike the 'Cow' across it's body. Finally revealing the true nature of the so-called cow.

The needles struck through the beast as if moving through water or another liquid, the cow then opened it's mouth to reveal rows of silver teeth.

It was a chimeric lunar, one of the poor Lunars who never got their tattoos. It had a fluid body that was hard to hurt with attacks that cut or pierced, luckily her ice still hurt it but not by enough.

The chimera grew, it's legs growing and changing to look like some form of pouncing animals. Rin knew an attack was coming and she prepared for it. The beast pounced and Rin threw herself to the side, it had been expecting her to stay in place or duck under the pounce so it had flattened itself at the last moment to catch her if she had tried it.

Rin sighed in relief, she wasn't fighting an elder Lunar gone mad, just a young Lunar that had never been marked.

Killing him would be a mercy. But how?

Just one casting of Ice hornets had expended her personal supply of essence, she could tap her external Lunar supply but that would only give her two more castings at best and the chimera wouldn't take much damage from that. She couldn't user her martial arts as the body of a chimera is basically made of acid when it wants to be.

She ran a bit further away and turned to the crowd and ringmaster before calling out, she put all her charm and style into the attempt "Please fair crowd, Give me a weapon!"

Rin had never really been good with weapons, martial arts really was her strength. Here though she needed something special.

There! As a couple of people threw things like daggers or swords she saw someone throw a small object that looked like a gun. She didn't know much about the south of creation but she knew they had weapons called Flame-wands that acted as hand-held flame throwers, she just had to hope this one was loaded.

She spun and ducked as the chimera leaped again but before it had a chance to recover she pointed the flame-wand and pulled the trigger. A jet of flame emerged from the tip of the weapon, hitting the chimera hard and setting it alight. When you have something with that much energy in it, fire is a weapon that can burn it away.

The now burning chimera leaped again and again Rin dodged. The flame-wand would have only held one shot, she needed more than that.

So she decided to take a risk. She had to line up the shot perfectly. She placed herself so the chimera was between herself and a nearby part of the ring of fire.

She started low and ran towards the protean being, she put all her skill and strength into a flurry of blows.

Predictably it did very little to the monster but it did knock it back, into the fire.

There was a great roar as the chimera was consumed by the flames. Moments passed and the ring of fire fell. The burned body of the Lunar on the ground.

Rin said a small prayer to Lunar, wishing her to make sure the Exaltation went to a good person.

The crowd cheered but as the ringmaster opened the flap of the tent on the other side of the arena, Rin didn't stay to soak in the crowd's cheers. She just ran on.

* * *

End of chapter.

Very little to say here, the Wyld is tiring to write about


	54. Chapter 45

Love, Friendship and plotting murder

* * *

Shirou, Sakura and Trin were walking north back to civilisation. Each was lost in their own thoughts so there wasn't any talking.

Shirou's thoughts went back to Archer, The base of his thoughts had seemed to be "No matter what power you have, a hero must choose who is saved." However based on how the grail war ended it wasn't that easy. He had chosen to save Sakura even if that might cause the end of the world. Yet after everything had occured both lived, Sakura and the world remained.

Was it that they had brought enough power into the cavern of the greater grail? Or had it simply been luck?

Shirou didn't know.

It was relevant now though, he now held much greater power than ever before. Unlimited Blade Works was not currently usable, the cracks had finally made it unstable. His new powers seemed to be splinting it someone, preventing it's loss from destroying him.

Now he had his Solar abilties, even if he had not had the chance to train them yet he could still feel them. They felt warm within him, A warmth like the sun but radiating from within him. Somehow Archer's words returned to him again "If you cannot defeat your enemy with the weapon you do have, then imagine one with which you could." He had said those words as he had challenged berserker to buy time for them. It had been those words that made him first excel in tracing. Archer had faked his death at that time but it didn't change those words meaning.

Even without tracing, he now had supernatrual crafting abilities. He could "Imagine" A weapon and craft it at a forge himself. Of course this may not work and tracing would still be faster but right now it may be the best option open to him.

He knew that his powers as they are were more about "Creation" then "Combat", He would need to find someway to use those powers or to learn new abilities to be useful in threatening situations.

* * *

Sakura was not scared. It would be more fair to call her feelings something like "Cringing from the fear of a strike." She could feel the bad will of her masters building up. For each moment she wasn't trying to lead him to hell it was counting against her.

The options that her Coadjutor layed out for her explained it all.

Option 1; Take him into Malfeas and hand him over, using whatever methods are required including seduction and battle. Sakura didn't want to take this option, not only because she doubted that she could take Shirou in combat even without the Solar strength he now had. The reason she didn't want to take this option was that she didn't want to betray him. She would never be able to forgive herself.

Option 2; Run away with him, damning herself to the retribution of her masters. If she were to take this option she would never be able to stay with him. Her Coadjutor had explained a bit about how they could punish her and it seemed that she couldn't be save from it. There was no permanent answer to it, she would simply be punished until she was dragged back into option 1.

Option 3; Become the evil that would save him. Her Coadjutor had explained how by performing certain villainous actions she could delay her punishments. This would allow her to stay with Shirou at the cost of trying to hide the things she did from him. Her limit was fast approaching and she would need to bleed some of it off soon.

She looked at Trin and judged him, if she wanted to do option 3, the easiest way would be to combine multiple acts together and inflict them upon a single person. It produced the least damage.

Thus did Sakura start plotting murder.

* * *

Trin wasn't having a good week, first he had been kidnapped by Lunar Anthema then when Shirou had come to save him, Shirou too had been possessed by an Anthema.

Shirou still seemed to retain his humanity now but how long would it take for the demon to take over his mind.

Briefly a horrific vision crossed his mind, the demon who had control of Shirou's body and powers would be able to create swords like Shirou. The monster could rain those blades down on villages or armies sent to stop him.

He would need to be stopped before then.

The lords of the land (dragon-blooded exalted) might be able to stop him. They migth have some ancient power that allows them to save the hosts of Anthema. He had never heard of such a power but he had to hope. He owed Shirou his life and wanted to return the favour somehow.

If Shirou became a demon then the only way to return the favour would be to see him put out of his misery.

He had doubts about Shirou's 'Friend' as well, the woman called Sakura seemed strange. Maybe she was actually another Anthema, her arival had been soon before Shirou had been possessed after all. She could seemingly control shadows too and Trin didn't think that the lords of earth were capable of that sort of thing.

He just hoped he could warn his lady Nereth about what had happened, with these two the way they were it would cause a disaster if they became a part of any plans during the coming civil war. They were too dangerous.

* * *

Shirou looked ahead, near the horizon there seemed to be something moving, he squinted and made out a line of carts travelling in a south-east direction.

"Look!" he said while pointing them out to Sakura and Trin. They both shook their heads and Sakura said "My eyesight isn't good enough to see them."

Shirou explained what he had seen and Trin looked in their direction as if trying hard to see them. As he did he said "Traders probably, probably safe enough to ignore them."

Sakura shook her head "Might be a good chance to stock up on food, honestly when is the last time that you two have eaten?"

Shirou and Trin looked at each other as Shirou let out a slow "4 days, roughly. We hunted some desert animals and ate them."

Sakura sighed "Ok, let's get some food. Anyone have jade script on them?"

The others shook there heads and Sakura looked annoyed "Well, I don't either. All in favor to steal?"

All she got for that was two accusing looks so Sakura raised her hands in defeat "Ok, lets go ask if we could do a job then."

The three of them walked towards where Shirou had seen the carts.

* * *

End of chapter

Normal length chapter or there about.

Basically I just wanted this party adapting to changes in this chapter, the traders are for their next chapter

Remember that Rin is coming in the next chapter, Maybe I'll even finish her Wyld Adventure


	55. Chapter 46

The land of mirrors

* * *

Rin wondered if the Wyld would ever stop surprising her.

The desert she had been walking through mere moments before had flattened out as far as she could see. It was like the salt plains she had heard about but with sand instead of salt.

There wasn't any water but the heat made it look like everything beyond a couple meters was a mirror.

She kept walking and around her the sand remained still, there was not the smallest breath of wind. It was sweltering here but Rin was used to it by now.

When she was lucky the Wyld had been giving her relatively normal food, other times it gave her poisoned cakes. Rin shuddered at the memory of the cakes, whatever poison was in it had done hell to her body, she wondered if she would have survived it if she wasn't exalted.

She wondered how many days she had been in the Wyld, she was on a fourty day time limit after all, had she already run out of time?

She looked down and realised that by now she really was walking on mirrors, somewhere behind her the sand had been replaced and now the desert was no longer flat. Mirrors in the shapes of dunes were before her and somehow she knew that her destination wasn't far.

It was strange seeing her reflection all around her, She was still not really used to the way her tattoos looked on her (Blame the lack of mirrors in the Lunar's camp for that) but overall she looked similar.

she walked between two mirror dunes and looked at the infinite reflection that they created. Mirrors were interesting from a magical perspective as they were seen in some cultures as 'Windows between worlds'. Even Zelretch's notes held mention of mirrors used in kaleidoscope, Rin never was able to figure out what the notes said but she assumed there was a small amount of truth in the rumors.

She stopped as she noticed something was wrong in the reflections. The mirror to her left reflected the right exactly as did the right reflect the left but as she looked into the depths of the mirrors she realised that the reflection of the reflection was wrong. Not the first layer but many reflections in she saw the reflection of a building, like a small house. It was in both reflections when she looked deep enough.

She walked up to the steep side of one of the mirrored dunes and placed her hand on the surface, it was solid but it made her wonder, were the mirrored dunes hollow?

Rin took a step back as she concidered how the madness of the Wyld might create the mirror dune in the first place. This place in the Wyld reflected creation but changed the rules, thus if it were simply "A dune but reflective" then it would be made of tiny grains, as it wasn't the idea of 'What this place is' must be mistaken.

Warily Rin took a step back from the mirror, the Wyld made stories real so breaking a mirror might very well grant her seven years of bad luck.

Suddenly Rin realised that she had been sidetracked, time was passing and as she looked for the sun she realised it was far lower than it had been when she had started walking between the dunes. She ran on without heed to get away from the mirrors that drew her thoughts.

* * *

After a while she stopped running, she knew in her soul that she had found her destination.

Before her was the very house she had seen earlier within the reflection. Now however she could see it's true scale which before had been warped by the mirrors.

The house was completly oversized, as if someone just increased the size of a set of blueprints without care.

Rin didn't care that much about its architecture, she just went up to the oversized front door and pushed, it wasn't locked so rin was able to enter without issues.

Within the house she felt much younger, with all of the furniture being twice as big she felt half as tall. She walked through the house, wondering what in here was the key to the higher levels of sorcery she sought for.

It was obvious when she found it, after all; no normal house would have a maze of mirrors within one of it's rooms.

Rin began wondering the maze, grateful for the fact that the burning torch near the entrance was the only light source within the maze. She took it with her and held it out to see if a corridor would end in a loop back to an earlier area.

It did make the whole thing a bit eerie but Rin was fine. Or at least it was until she ran into herself.

She thought she had walked into a wall by mistake, her eyes were closed and she rubbed her head before looking about, only to see her own reflection doing the same but reversed.

When you look to your right in the mirror, the reflection normally looks to their left. But it this case it was a perfect reflection. Rin looked at Rin who was looking at Rin.

A Rin raised her left hand to test, the other Rin raised her own slowly a moment later. Both Rins reached out and touched the other.

It was all quite strange.

One of them that from here on will be described in text as Rin A shook her head "I don't have time for this."

The other who is now Rin B felt a bit of anger "What was that?"

Rin A raised an eyebrow "A mirror doppelganger? Really?"

Rin B crossed her arms "I agree it is a bit pointless for you to be here, you should just go away and let me do what I came to do."

Rin A now felt the same sort of anger "No doppelganger, I need to do what I came to do."

The two stared each other down for a bit before Rin B just decided to push past Rin A to continue where she was going, Rin A then tried to trip her but B kept right on without falling.

Rin A stopped for a moment and tried to grab Rin B, her hand slipped right through her.

As Rin B continued into the maze, Rin A tried to follow her but soon found a glass wall between them. She tried to take a diffrent path but when she found B again she saw the reflection of her go through a door, there was a similar door on her side but it wouldn't open.

The reflection looked at the door in despair upon realising the truth.

* * *

Rin stepped through the door she had found only to find herself suddenly standing at a crossroads. A normal seeming desert stretched out and she looked at the sign. It was in Old Realm, which was handy as her translation sorcery didn't work on written words.

There were three signs on the post.

"Those who seek power, return from where you came."

"Those who seek glory, you shall not find it."

"Those who seek knowledge shall pay a great price but shall have it."

As Rin finished reading the post blew away in a gust of wind as if it had been made of sand. The desert was all she could see. No way of navagating it.

She knew now was when she had to speak.

"Hear me, I am Rin Tohsaka, A Lunar of the silver pact. I come for the knowledge of Celestial Sorcery. I speak my own words and accept my own choices."

The wind blew and Rin knew she was being heard so she continued.

"I shall not lie, this power is not taken in greed but in want. I shall not go against my word, I will keep to any pacts I must make for this gift."

The wind blew harder and Rin knew she would now have to offer something, some tribute greater than her first. Her first sacrifice had been losing any respect she might ever gain from clock tower. For becoming a true mage she wouldn't have it anyway. That sacrifice set a precedent, but it was still her choice for what to offer.

"I offer the respect I will have from people of creation, I will be an outcast from them as I am now from the mages of my home. This shall be my sacrifice, only those who care about me shall ever respect me, let the common man and the mages of the clock tower hate me or fear me for this do I offer for the knowledge!"

Her words were swallowed by the desert and by the greater Wyld, Rin closed her eyes as fear gripped her. Her sacrifice suddenly felt very stupid, She would have never be able to lead. The Silver Pact was based around creating new civilization from nothing and she would never be respected by common people. Any Exalted or mortal who proved themselves a Hero could come to respect her but even then, she would always be separate.

Rin wanted to pull her words back but froze, she knew that doing so now would be breaking her word. If she took it back she would never reach the higher levels of sorcery.

She took a breath and a second passed, then what felt to her like a minute passed. Rin looked around and saw a light in the sky, she reached for it and grasped it.

She looked at her hand, in it a single silver star, more like a pearl. She held it close and knew in her heart that she was now able to touch the great spells of the second circle.

A sandstorm blew in around her suddenly. Rin closed her eyes as it passed and she felt a strange movement around her. When she opened her eyes the world was normal.

The sand was pink, so she was still in the Wyld but she felt that she was now only on the edges. She ran north, her heart singing.

She had done it!

* * *

End of chapter

That was... A thing

I don't really know how to describe this chapter, I had the ideas for the mirrors and the 'Standing at crossroads' but the Wyld is strange and as normal I improvised most of it.

I'll be honest that most of this isn't even on my original plan, I just used this quest as a quick way to get Rin into the south (In my original skeleton plot she went through this whole journey across creation but I had trouble working the time so I simply went with the fact that Wyld Travel is weird.

So yes. Rin is now a celestial sorcerer, the highest level of sorcery that a Lunar can normally reach, and she hasn't even been an exalted that long. Normally only experienced Lunar get to this level and the fact that Rin did it this quickly would be incredible and most Elder Lunars wouldn't even believe it.

Next few chapters are back to Shirou mostly but I might put in a paragraph about Rin in there somewhere.


	56. Chapter 47

Savior

* * *

Shirou noticed the problem first, his eyesight was the best which allowed him to see that the carts were filled with people in rags and chains. When he mentioned that out loud, Trin's face changed to a look of disgust.

"Slave traders to the fey." he stated. When the others looked over he explained "So merchants have made deals with various fey lords, trading them slaves that will have their souls eaten in exchange for wealth."

"So," Sakura started, the anger becoming visible on her face "They sell **other people's souls** as a way to get rich quick?"

Trin nodded and Sakura and Shirou looked at each other, they would not allow this to occur. They would save the slaves.

As they began to plan Sakura cracked a sly smile "So, about stealing food from them?" Shirou looked at her before looking away and sighing "We will need to feed the rescued slaves somehow."

* * *

Layiym was having a good day, the slaves he was transporting were being remarkably well behaved. He guessed that killing that large slave a few days ago really had worked. He had been taught by his tutor that slaves were best controlled by treating them as intelligent animals, something like pigs.

Pigs were very smart creatures, Layiym had grown up on a farm so he had enough experience to know that much.

He was also taught if you wanted a group to behave you target it's head and it's heart. The large slave had been planning the revolt so he was the head, beating that little girl slave later had stopped its heart. The girl would live, the medicine he brought with him ensured there wouldn't even be any bruising, some Raksha were picky eaters and would only eat those who looked good enough.

Suddenly he heard a shout from the front of the procession of carts, he was forced to get up from his luxury waggon and walk towards the front of the line.

There was a group of people hailing them apparently, could always be some Raksha out hunting beyond the Wyld but it wasn't likely. More likely they would be nomads or a tribe that lives around here.

Layiym smirked and wondered if he would be able to catch them and add them to his slaves.

Suddenly he heard a loud explosion from the weapon's cart that was second in line. Layiym swore and ran forwards but the firedust had already ignited the cart. If this were the travellers' fault he would make sure that they got sold off. That much firedust was expensive and he would take the cost from their souls.

Suddenly he stopped, looking at all the guards that had been killed. They lay scattered around their waggons as if they had been killed as most of them were just leaving.

He then turned to look at the two people who were staring at him, one held a bow as black as the night while the other held a pair of swords that glowed gold.

* * *

Shirou looked at the man before him before glancing back at the burning waggon. He had expected a bigger explosion from the small barrels but all they did was set big fires. In addition why did they keep a burning stick near it? That was just asking for trouble.

Sakura had been the one to make the shot with that pitch-black bow of hers. She had been learning more about how to control her shadow magic but he hadn't expected anything like projection. Her shadow bow seemed to be perfect quality as were the similarly dark arrows she used with it.

He decided he would have to ask her later.

Trin had hid behind a sand dune, his mission was to free the slaves and try and find where their supplies were kept while Sakura and Shirou fought off the slavers. After Shirou had got him a set of keys of a guard he had begun making his way to the back of the procession where his targets were likely to be found.

Shirou looked back at the man he had seen earlier only to see him already on the ground, Sakura had shot him in the leg and had walked over to threaten him to tell them what they needed to know.

Shirou would have cared more only this was a heroic thing to do. He was both saving the majority and doing a good deed in stopping this sort of horrid trade.

Sakura had taken the man aside so he was out of sight of the carts, so Shirou just headed onwards down the line. When he found the next Waggon of guards he said the same thing he had said to the first few guards "Surrender and live?" He would give them a choice.

Unfortunately the guards believed they could beat him. They couldn't.

Shirou continued down the line before meeting up with Trin. He was begining to let the slaves out of their chains.

The Once-slaves looked at their rescuers in awe. Shirou looked away at their admiring looks, he saw the joy in some faces and fear in others.

He looked to Trin and asked "Can you tell them they are free to travel back to civilization with us, the food and other supplies are theirs to use?"

Trin nodded and turned to the slaves before speaking in flametongue. Shirou looked away, wondering where Sakura had taken the man.

* * *

Nearly half a mile away Sakura set the bleeding man down and turned to him. Her Coadjutor was happy with how she had planned this.

"Hello," she said to the man in flametongue, "Stay quiet as I don't need your name."

She smiled at him "You know, nobody would miss you, if you travelled this far away then any loved ones you have must have prepared for your death, just in case of course."

The man's eyes widened as Sakura continued "I am just going to leave you here, without water you will be dead within a day or two."

Real fear entered the mans eyes then as Sakura finished "No one will save you, you will be lucky if your death comes quick." to that she infused it with a bit of magic, The Ebon Dragon loved evil truths as much as it loved lies after all.

Her Coadjutor mentally poked her "You have fulfilled two requirements, Cecelyne and She Who Lives In Her Name. Acts of Villainy complete, the Yozi will let you be for a while."

Sakura smiled sadly, she might be killing slavers but this was still torture. Well as long as it kept her close to Shirou to protect him she was fine.

* * *

End of chapter

So they rescued a lot of slaves and Sakura showed how the demonic evil is forcing her hand.


	57. Chapter 48

A blacksmith of the sun

* * *

Shirou sat in the front cart of the train that was slowly making its way north back towards civilisation. The road they were on was apparently called the deep desert road and, after the newly freed slaves asked him to via Trin, he had performed a prayer to the road's god to give them safe passage.

The plan was simple, the carts would follow the road back to Chiaroscuro. There, Shirou would leave a letter for Nereth that would allow her to know where to go when she needed to find him before he returned. After that the carts would travel west to Paragon, a city that supposedly offered citizenship to anyone who asked for it regardless of background. There the slaves that travelled with them would ask for citizenship and Shirou and Sakura would stay for a while before returning to Chiaroscuro.

While the actual journey was quite the distance, Shirou doubted they would actually be part of the whole route. The carts could go to Paragon without him so he, Sakura and Trin could wait in Chiaroscuro.

Shirou closed his eyes, he knew something was different. This world had changed her as it had him. Whenever he would ask she would answer confidently that she was fine and there was no reason for him to worry. For a few days he'd believe her perfectly, never doubting it then he would see a sad expression on her face or catch her muttering. In either case he would ask again and she would convince him again.

Shirou was not stupid, he might sometimes be dense when it came to emotions but he could tell what Sakura was doing. Somehow she was working some magic that made him believe her. It saddened him to realise that she didn't trust him with whatever was making her feel horrible. He couldn't bring his reasoning to her of course, she would lie it away and say it was fine as always.

He sighed and turned his mind to a more enjoyable subject, the forge. A few days ago it had been brought to his attention by one of the freed slaves via Trin. The slavers had a mobile forge in one of the carts. They would have likely used it for repairing weapons or chains but Shirou saw more potential in the small set.

He had never hand-forged anything before. All his smithing had been magic, within his soul. However he felt his newly obtained powers resonate when he looked at the forge so one night while the others rested he had set it up. It wasn't much, A slab of steel to act as an anvil, a furnace to heat metal and a small trough that he could quench his works in.

Regardless of it's quality it also had various tools for shaping metal so Shirou had decided to test it. He took metal from the cast-off chains that once bound the slaves and created a bar of steel from them. Some sort of fire burned within him as he lengthened and flattened the bar.

He beat the smithing hammer against the bar until it took the shape of a sword. He was creating something simple, the only thing that separated the blade from the grip was the fact the blade was sharp.

As the night continued he shaped the weapon. He didn't know what made him decide that it should be shaped into a khopesh but he knew that it was a "good form" for the metal.

An hour before the sun rose the blade was finished. He stored the forge away so that they could begin moving easily before begining to sharpen the blade. Only when he was done did he realise he had never performed a structural analysis on the blade as he forged it. He performed one now, admiring the work he had done. As far as he could see there was not a single error in the blade. It was perfect.

He felt drained, as if he had worked some magecraft as the weapon was being formed. He couldn't find anything on the blade itself so it must have been some sort of charm that enhanced his ability at crafting.

He couldn't make a sheath easily, he didn't have any leather for it and he didn't really know how to work leather. He might ask if any of the freed slaves knew how to make one.

The sun rose higher and Sakura walked up to see what he had made. Shirou hadn't seen her since evening so she might have left the group for the night, it didn't seem to safe but whatever new power Sakura had obtained would likely have kept her safe.

"It is quite pretty." Sakura murmured as she looked at the sword. Shirou looked at the blade but couldn't really see anything to special about it, it was in perfect quality and it might shine in the sun but he didn't see how that made it pretty.

Regardless he held the khopesh out towards her "You can have it if you want?" Sakura shook her head "You keep it, you made it the natrual way and that should be treasured. Even the world wouldn't reject a treasure like that."

He later asked Trin to find someone who could make a sheath for it and he agreed to look. Later that day one of the freed slaves was brought who offered to make a sheath, she took measurements of the weapon before nodding and through Trin she said "I can do it quite easily, it will be ready by tonight."

As the sun set that day the woman brought the soft sheath. Shirou slid the khopesh into it.

As he did he felt something settle within him that had unconsciously been bothering him. He felt his reality marble steady itself.

It was still badly damaged but as long as there was a new weapon to add then it would add it, a new nameless blade to add to the hill of swords. Shirou smiled and lay down to sleep

* * *

End of chapter

Not much happened in this chapter but I hope you enjoyed, for reference I know very little about forging weapons.

Shirou is also figuring out that something is wrong with Sakura, he just doesn't know what yet.

Shirou still can't access UBW (either the full marble or tracing) but he can still observe weapons to add them to the hill (Basically it is now in the state that it is at the begining of F/SN.

Next chapter will skip ahead a few days to Chiaroscuro


	58. Chapter 49

Horror

* * *

Trin was angry and was forced to hide it. With Lord Shirou- no, Trin decided he shouldn't be given the respect that Exalted got. Anathema like him couldn't be given that. With Shirou's permission he had become something like a leader for the freed slaves. A proxy between them and Shirou.

Even if a few of the freed slaves could speak one of the languages he had learned (Most often Riverspeak) they normally came to Trin first.

Perhaps it was something like how most low-class citizens of the realm would refuse to speak to the Exalted on principle and would only communicate with them via secretaries or other intermediates.

This had given him the ability to pick and choose what got passed on to Shirou. Most things he passed on but...

* * *

A night ago he had been told about how someone's son had gone missing. He had been talking about how they didn't need Shirou to protect them and like Trin he had likely figured out that they were Anathema. He had gone missing sometime later and Trin had looked for a trail.

He had asked around and heard that he had walked out of the camp and followed after where they said he had gone, only to see something he shouldn't have.

A mile or two away from the camp he had seen something. The nights in the south were bright so he had made out two figures. He approached to see what they were doing only to see one of them attack the other. At that he had hid in the shadow of the dune to finish watching.

The figure that had attacked the other straightened and looked down on the man that was below her now. When Trin focused he could make out her words "I would apologise for this but I see it as a necessary evil. You will bleed out here over the next few hours and then die. Your planned rebellion will fail and we will be safe from people like you."

The figure was silent for a moment as if she was listening to the body on the floor, she then spoke in a voice of false reassurance "Oh, I'll make sure no one worries. Those that care will just believe that you set out and simply never returned."

She paused again before nodding and begining to walk in Trin's direction. He panicked before realising that the camp was that way too and she was likely just walking back towards the camp. He then stopped for a moment, A murderer was walking towards the camp.

He started to stand up as the figure came into view. Before he was fully out of hiding though he heard the woman's voice "Trin, walk with me."

Not a request, an order.

He looked up to see the face of the Anathema Sakura. He shook in fear as he followed her, was she planning to kill him too?

She looked round to see him and smiled slightly before stopping and putting her hand on his shoulder "Don't worry, I don't intend to hurt you. Just I need you to be quiet about what you saw tonight."

Trin had shuddered as he felt something take hold of him. A sense of revulsion about the murder that had occured right before him. He now knew that he would never be able to speak about it to anyone, the horror of the scene would stop him.

Sakura simply continued her small smile and turned to walk again, he had been forced to catch up and walk with her all the way back to camp.

* * *

He simply couldn't talk about it, when the mother had asked him about her son all he was able to say was "I couldn't find him."

Whatever that demon had done prevented him from even taking it to Shirou, was it him she was trying to hide it from?

Either way, Trin had lost hope that Anathema could be good when he had seen that. Shirou might still be good now but he wondered how long it would take before Shirou turned that new sword against the slaves or even Trin himself.

The only hope for escape was that in only a few days they would make it to Chiaroscuro. When they were there, Trin planned to ask to bring the letter himself and stay in the city. Then while the slaves were brought to Paragon, Trin would be able to tell the dragon-bloods of their coming.

He just hoped that it would be enough.

As he walked he saw Shirou, he was helping a group of slaves with their issues. It was a group that had once been scholars of some kind and they were one of the groups that didn't go through Trin himself.

It seemed that Shirou actually liked helping people, if he was still like that after returning from Paragon he might have a chance. A warning would have to be sent out about Sakura of course but maybe Shirou could remain stable.

A change of plans then; he would bring the letter as stated and add another warning that it was possible that there was an Anathema with them. He would then travel with Shirou to see what he did. When they returned to Chiaroscuro he would make the judgement that was needed.

Lady Nereth had given him the task of determining if Shirou could be trusted and if he was still his helpful self during the trip to and from Paragon then maybe he could still be trusted.

* * *

A few dozen miles south of the party was a lone figure who flew across the desert. She was following a feeling in her heart like a compass and had chosen to ride a demon to travel faster.

The woman was a Lunar seeking out her Solar mate by feelings alone. She had at first been able to fill her water skin from a few oases she had found along the way and she was able to hunt for food in the sands.

Rin had gotten tired of walking quickly after leaving the Wyld and had chosen to make use of what her teacher's had described as the single most useful sorcery; Demon of the first circle.

She had walked until sundown before starting the spell as to not lose any time. She didn't have any implements on her so she made do with what she had; sand.

She drew a perfect circle in the sand and started drawing a complex diagram inside it. The wind kept destroying parts but she made sure that it was repaired quickly. She chose something like the old servant summoning circle design. She was summoning something to serve her after all, it made sense.

When the moon was at it's peak she called forth her target; An Agatae.

"Come forth and serve me oh progeny of the Whim-of-the-wind. I shall call a Beauteous Wasp. Come to me manifestation of beauty and serve me as is required by the oaths of surrender."

Golden light filled the area as the demon appeared, A golden wasp as large as a horse. A true beauty it was but Rin needed a mount and so continued the spell, testing her will against the demon.

"You shall be my steed, my transport until I dismiss you, you will obey me!"

A moment passed before the demon knelt in her direction. It's voice was like brass bells and crystal and it was just as beautiful as the rest of it "My lady, I shall serve you until the moment of your dismissal."

Rin smiled.

* * *

End of chapter

This chapter didn't turn out as I expected it to (the plan was to have something where Shirou fought something with his new sword but I couldn't find any good threat in the south that would just be wandering around.) but honestly I am fine with it.

Trin is also arguing with himself about whether or not he should trust the two "Anathema"... I am worried that I might be writing him to be annoying, I am trying to avoid that but with the sort of situation he might fall really easily into disliked

Sakura is honestly just on her own side by now. She looks for threats to herself and Shirou and uses them to offset her limit.

Meanwhile, Rin dabbles in Demonology. That can only go well. It seems both sisters make use of it in some way.


	59. Chapter 50

Preparing for trouble

* * *

Shirou gazed ahead to the glass buildings of Chiaroscuro. They were only a few hours away from the city and would likely be there around sunset.

The plan was to stop for supplies and then head out towards Paragon tomorrow. Hopefully no one would recognise him from his last time here but this time he would have Sakura with him. She had been distant for the last few days but now she was sitting beside him at the front of the train of carriages.

She seemed just like her old self again. The two of them had been talking but neither wanted to talk much about the recent events in their lives so instead they had talked about what they would do when they got home and they reminisced on the past.

Right now however they were silent, simply enjoying each other's company.

After a while, Trin walked to the front of the procession to give a report to Shirou that he had asked for earlier. Shirou had heard about how some of the people travelling with them had gone missing suddenly. Shirou listened as Trin repeated what he had heard from the people but he glanced round to look at Sakura as he did. She was not looking at him, rather she was looking towards Chiaroscuro.

Again Shirou had the feeling she was hiding something from him and he decided to get it out of her when they left Chiaroscuro. He would use a charm to prevent her from simply easing his worries. She was clearly troubled and he would find out why.

Trin finished the report and glanced up at Sakura. Before Shirou could ask him something, Trin turned quickly and left back to interact with the freed slaves leaving himself and Sakura alone again.

* * *

A few hours later the train of carriages came to a collective stop, they had reached the city's gates and they would need to get the carriages through to load up on supplies (Payed for with the slavers jade naturally).

Shirou pulled the up hood of the cloak that had been made to hide his face as Sakura stepped forward. She walked up to the guards on duty.

"I am Theostra of the sands. I wish entry for my caravans so we may restock our supplies." She spoke in a quick Flametongue. She wrapped her words in magic and the guards nodded and allowed them entry.

Sakura rejoined Shirou as the carts slowly moved into the city's warehouse district.

The two of them and Trin left the carts to try and find bulk merchants that they could buy the supplies for the next stage of the journey from.

When they found someone who could sell them bread in large quantities he simply refused their offer.

"I'm sorry, but I only sell in that quantities to guild merchants." The man spoke plainly "If you don't have a badge off office then I legally cannot sell this to you as my wares have been pre-bought for a diffrent group of guild merchants who will be arriving from the east within a few days."

Shirou thought for a moment before speaking "If they have already been bought then how would us being guild merchants change anything?"

The merchant sighed as if he didn't like what he was about to say "Long story boy but I owe the guild a lot of money so they have let the matter slide as long as I give them exclusive access to bulk purchases."

Shirou looked disheartened so Sakura stepped in "Do you not have a surplus?"

The man simply shook his head "I'm sorry there is little I can do. Due to the south's climate this sort of thing has been forced on many merchants as a means that the guild can always have food for their journeys."

Shirou and Sakura thanked him for the information left, Trin following behind them. Trin had been convinced that Sakura would have simply conned the man out of his food using the guild emblem he had seen her slip into her pocket earlier. The emblem had been taken off the leader of the slavers so she could have used it and her demonic powers to make him give them the food. She hadn't however leading him to think she was planning an even bigger trick.

After a bit of walking, Sakura stopped. Trin and Shirou looked at her as she thought for a moment. When she spoke it was clear that she was plotting something but Trin couldn't understand her as she spoke in the language that only she and Shirou knew. Shirou understood however "Shirou, we could find a warehouse of food and trade for it directly, taking the food and leaving the money."

Shirou stopped too and nodded before replying in japanese "I don't like it but it would work, we would need the prices for everything we were going to take though."

Sakura shook her head "Or just leave a large amount of our money and take the food we need. Seeing the amount of jade and silver we have in the treasury cart we would likely be overpaying."

Shirou paused a moment before nodding and turning to Trin to speak in High realm "Trin, can you deliver the letter now. Sakura and I will need to do something else."

Trin glanced at them before nodding and leaving with the letter to Nereth.

* * *

Shirou and Sakura returned to the warehouse district to look for the warehouses where food would be kept. Shirou pointed out that it was likely to be a basement of another warehouse due to the food needing colder temperatures to keep longer so at each building they passed, Shirou would kneel down and press his hand on the ground to attempt to Structural Grasp the foundations to see if there was a basement.

After finding one they snuck inside and checked it out, they found a basement with food so they marked the building as their target.

Sakura took a look around the building as she would be able to lie about her reason for being there.

When they done they returned to the train to rest for nightfall.

* * *

Rin rode the Agatae she had summoned a few days ago high above the sands. It truely was a beautiful thing and it admitted that it had never been given a name. Rin pitied it and had spent a while thinking up a name, in they end she had taken inspiration from the large red patch it had on it's underbelly and named her Rubinrot.

Rubinrot had been happy with her name even if she had no idea what the word meant. So the ride towards the pull north had been quick and comfortable.

Even now Rin could see the coast and a town seemingly made of glass. She knew that the source of the pull was somewhere inside the town. It was getting late however so she didn't want to search tonight.

Rubinrot landed outside of town and had become incorporeal to hide. Rin didn't know the local language so she cheated and cast the last of the three sorceries her master had taught her.

She spoke a single eternal word that was a word of power in all languages and drew a golden mask formed from the essence across her face so that her mouth and ears were covered.

She approached the guard and allowing the spell to translate she ordered him "I am an Exalted Dragon-blooded, allow me in you fool or can you not see the power I wield."

She put all her talents into that lie and was rewarded when the man quickly allowed her into the city.

She wanted to rest and look for the source of the pull in the morning but now that she was so close it wasn't going to allow her to avoid him tonight.

"Him?" Rin realised, she had thought 'Him' not 'It'. Something in her was telling her it was a 'Him'.

Rin grinned. She would seek this man out and find him, then she could rest.

* * *

Shirou felt a shiver as he prepared to head out with Sakura, they would subdue the guards then begin moving the food and money back and forward.

They would have to leave quickly but he trusted in Sakura's ability to lie them out of trouble. Then in the morning sun he would ask her what was troubling her

* * *

End of chapter

50 chapters and over a year since this story started.

The thing that worries me is that in my planning document we are only coming up on the end of act 1 of 5. I think I might have vastly overestimated my ability to write.


	60. Chapter 51

Fate

* * *

Shirou and Sakura moved quickly yet quietly. Sakura picked the door's lock and the two entered the warehouse.

They had to secure a route first and that would require subduing any guards that might be in the way.

Shirou spotted someone on a raised platform and Sakura softly moved up to him and used her shadow to choke him unconscious. She waved to Shirou who kept moving as she hid the sleeping guard under a tarp.

Shirou reached the hatch that led to the cooled basement and slowly opened it. Sakura approached him from behind and she nodded to the supplies before muttering the quick maths she had performed "This is a lot of food, the silver and jade could still buy all of this easily. A small quantity of our money would buy this."

Shirou nodded before taking a large bag of grain, after a minute he returned with one of the jade bars wrapped in a cloth. Sakura looked at the size of the bar before shaking her head "Just with that we could still buy most of this," She passed him another large sack of grain after he set the jade bar down "I think just two or three more of these, this doesn't even need a full talent."

Soon the bars of jade shined on the floor as Shirou and Sakura took food to their carts.

On one such trip back and forth someone stopped Shirou.

* * *

Rin had been searching the city for an hour now, her sense slowly dragging her towards the warehouse district.

She peaked over a roof that she had flown onto as an owl to see a pair of figures. They were in such total darkness that she could barely see them but she could see them take bag after bag from the warehouse.

She sensed one of them was the person she was looking for but she kept watch to see if she could catch of of these possible thieves alone.

The moment came and she noiselessly flew down and hid in a shadow as her innate form of a cat. She slinked forwards and when she was close enough she stopped the thief.

It was Shirou.

A moment of silence passed as they both recognised each other. The sack of grain that Shirou carried dropped to the ground as he hugged Rin.

Rin was still shocked but after a moment she hugged him back.

As they broke apart Sakura walked up and saw her sister, another pause occured.

Sakura didn't really know how to feel now, Rin had come after her. A show of love that Sakura felt in her heart. But now with how Sakura was possessed (again) she didn't feel like she deserved to interact with her sister. Rin stepped over to her and went into an embrace but Sakura flinched. Rin noticed but Sakura was returning the hug before Rin said anything.

Rin was quickly filled in with what they were doing and she agreed to help, the three of them hauled the rest of the food to their carts before waking up the other travellers. They were to head out of the city now, past any guards they might find on the way out.

Rin sat on top of the lead cart in the form of an owl. She didn't know Flametongue and her spell had been removed. She didn't feel like casting it again so she had no idea what the other travellers were saying about the snow-white owl perched atop the cart.

Some fast talk from Sakura got them out of the city and onto the coast road to Paragon.

As the sun rose the three of them all sat together on the lead cart and told stories. Shirou told of his time in the east and of the dragon-bloods he had met. Sakura lied about her time in the south and how she had escaped from the cultists. Rin told the stories of the north and about the quests through the Wyld.

They all discussed their new abilities too, Shirou had started it with the bad news about the loss of his stable reality marble but he did also tell about how his new powers allowed him to forge like a master. Sakura told a story of how her magecraft had grown thanks to the greater power in creation but Shirou asked if that was really the truth, When Shirou's magically enhanced will resisted her attempt to change the subject she refused to admit anything except that she had Exalted too. Rin told the story of her exaltation and her learning of sorcery, She told them of her new powers over demons which Shirou noticed Sakura flinch at.

In the end they all sat together, reunited at last.

* * *

In Yu-shan, Cloaked Blessing read the report she had obtained a few minutes ago. It detailed that Shirou was in the south and again in reach. He had allies now but it was still a good chance to learn what was happening and who he truly was. She would be leaving alone and so would have to be careful, it seemed that he had made contact with another Exalted. She might be forced to face them both if she wasn't careful.

* * *

Rai and Nereth Tepet sailed south, they would hopefully meet up with Shirou when they got there. The situation was building quickly and it seemed that the civil war may start any day. They needed him to meet up with and join Roseblack's forces now so they had his strength when she sailed to the blessed isle.

It was all up in the air, already there had been a large battle between two wing-sized armies. Even if both claimed it was a training accident it killed a lot of soldiers. If battles of this size were already starting then it would not be too long before someone did something stupid and the isle would fall to war and chaos.

* * *

Luna lounged in her rooms in the Jade Pleasure dome. Her turn in the games of divinity was over and if she played it properly then she wouldn't have another turn for an hour or more.

She could use that time to think clearly, before the addiction took her again.

Many claim that Luna was insane, they would be right. Many would claim she was just as addicted to the games of divinity as the Unconquered Sun, they would be right. However if any would claim the these two facts made her weak or stupid then they would be wrong.

Luna plotted, she answered a prayer to a young Lunar and gave advice to the elder who sought it. She sent some comforting words to Gaia as she then turned her many-faced mind to the problem of the dimentional travellers.

She still lacked a lot of information about them but they were her ace in the hole. In her madness she knew, somehow they would help protect the world.

* * *

The ebon dragon slunk through the skies of hell. His plot was the antithesis to Luna's as it was his nature to oppose. He had seen the mind of the girl who tasted like cherry blossom and from that he knew that he picked right. Either he would have a puppet to fulfill his plots or he had a piece that could betray him.

He was betrayal, he could even betray himself. This girl was to be a test of sorts.

He laughed with cruel mirth.

* * *

End of chapter (And arc)

Honestly while I didn't like the start of the chapter I needed to finish it quickly so meh.

Finally, we finally reached the end of the first arc. The first arc was kind of like a "Build up and introduce creation" arc

Next we are on to the "Civil war arc"

Before we do that though if anyone has any questions they want asked about this story (Or if you have asked a question before) I would like to collect all of the lore that I have made up so far to put in a bonus chapter between this and the next chapter.


	61. Chapter 52

Steps

* * *

Far away from the heroes in the south, a lone being walked through the east towards the Wyld. This Being had once described itself as a princess and after that as a queen but now it had chosen the role of a writer.

It had grown bored of the story of the castle and had set out to pen a new one. The story it now was writing was inspired by the story of Shirou, he had been so captivating that his story had quite set into the being.

The Raksha had no true feelings yet there was something of a love of stories that they all had. His was a story of the tragic hero given hope, at least that was how it saw the tale.

It would tell the story of a writer, a story of gathering information and writing words onto paper and binding it in books. It was not the story of a great hero but one who followed and told of the story.

"A bard?" The being wondered, had it's nature really changed enough to change its role from a scheming leader to a follower?

It wasn't a follower, a bard is the hero of the story of telling stories.

The being opened it's "mouth" in a crude smile, an imitation of a true expression.

* * *

On the blessed isle a women that looked far younger than her true age studied a map while cross referencing it with a large occult book to her side.

Her name was Mnemon, one of the oldest living children of the Scarlet Empress and arguably the greatest sorcerer amongst the dragon-blooded Exalted.

Mnemon turned a page of the book by her side and squinted. The book was a manual for the major dragon lines within the blessed isle written during the first age by an Anthema scholar. The map before her was a relatively more recent geomantic survey of the dragon lines that was made around the time the Scarlet Empress had taken power.

Mnemon was a crafty woman but not a stupid one, she also knew far more then she let on in regards to where her mother was right now.

She was studying the geomancy for two reasons; First is that if she could spring some hidden surprise that was previously unknown from the lines she might be able to access the imperial manse. If she did that then she would be able to claim the throne immediately for what came next. Her second reason was one of even greater secrecy, she was calculating how much death would be required for shadowlands to form on the blessed isle.

If the war did come there would be many deaths, better to have those deaths in places that wouldn't leave the blessed isle open to an underworld invasion if she could hep it.

Mnemon sighed and sent a message for a servant to bring her a hot drink, she would be working late into the night with this.

* * *

In the underworld, The deathlord called the mask of winters grinned evilly. He had just recieved another request from the Empress's daughter to send another of his death knights to the blessed isle.

She was a strange one, she recognised that the Sidereal's might support her opponent in the coming war so she gets her own exalted to fight for her.

She was also foolish, each Death knight obeyed him before any order she gave them. They would create a shadowland on the isle and he would explain it to her simply "They needed a way to easily regain supplies"

After enough shadow lands were opened and the war came to an end he would invade the weakened isle. It was a plan that showed the living destroying themselves.

So the question of who to send became important, A child of ash and a child of blood had already departed for the isle. If he was going to fight unfairly he would need to turn the enemies against themselves, A child of dust or a child of silence maybe?

The deathlord began to laugh, holding the blessed isle would be his greatest victory yet!

* * *

In the south Tepet Ejava also known as Roseblack sat on a rock and looked out towards the sea, an unread letter in her hand.

She knew that battle was inevitable at this point, Mnemon wouldn't give up the throne. It was only a matter of what happened first.

The longer the war was delayed though, the higher her own chances of victory. With each month more allies were coming to aid her and her family rallied more resources to her side.

Not even all the forces were coming from the blessed isle and loyal satrapies, she had heard that even some cities not controlled by the isle were secretly sending her aid.

She didn't like causing death but she was a soldier and a protector of the isle. If the isle wanted her as a queen and empress then she wasn't going to argue with it's choice, she would prefer the title of Shogun however.

She heard someone coming but stayed still.

"So here is where the roseblack has taken root."

It was Arada, her grandfather. The family had said that he had left his hermitage, finding her had been a trick though.

The two of them talked for a bit before Arada convinced her to check the letter. It wasn't a summons that she expected but rather marching orders.

She showed it to Arada who muttered a curse when he read the orders.

Sighing he looked to her "You are not foolish enough to actually fall for such a trap?"

Roseblack looked up at the sky "I either obey and likely lose over half of my army or refuse and start the war."

Arada looked over the orders again; a clear suicide mission. Roseblack was still being prideful all this time later.

He cleared his throat "There is a third option, who knows you received the letter?"

"The messenger and two guards. If you are going to advise their deaths then I must refuse, the guards are loyal to me alone and the messenger can be... convinced to not speak of it."

Arada smiled at his favourite granddaughter "Very well then, there is a fourth option too."

Roseblack turned her head "What is your idea old man?"

A knowing smile appeared on his face then "Well clearly, these orders are a _forgery_ correct? Created by a rival to embarrass you? We reverse the move, force them to explain it. If they fail then the war starts in your favour."

Roseblack's face matched Arada "We would still need to put some time on the clock, we would need to get the forces ready to sail to the isle as the message is sent."

The two of them talked strategy for a few more minutes before returning to Roseblack's camp. They entered the command tent and Roseblack began giving orders.

* * *

Start of act 2

Think of this as another prologue of sorts, just looking at the start of the next arc.


	62. Chapter 53

Down a road

* * *

The train of carts was trundling down the road to Paragon, Shirou was again sitting at the front and in his hands was a piece of the Jade that had been left in the treasure cart after the 'Sale' of the food for the journey.

As he held the material he made a note about creation that he hadn't made before; In his world the material called jade was a type of gemstone that was green in colour. In creation however it was instead a magical metal that came in multiple colours.

The Jade in his hands was white jade, The type most commonly found under the blessed isle. As far as he understood, all colours of Jade were used as money but white Jade was speical in that it was backed directly by the blessed isle. Green Jade was supposed to be the most commonly used type by the guild however due to the ease of finding it in the east, the home of the guild.

Jade, he knew, was also used as a material to create artifacts. He had seen Rai's Red Jade Daiklave in the past after all. In his own world he had heard of mystic codes and noble phantasms that had been made of jade but they were normally items designed to "Purify" tainted areas, people or the like.

Considering Jade's properies and the fact that it is natrually attuned to diffrent elements you may be able to create powerful mystic codes with it too. Normally that wouldn't be worth much to him but he always made not of things like this for the future. One day he might need to create an Artifact and when that day came he might need jade.

* * *

Trin sat at the back of the train of carts.

He thought back and noted that while he had warned about Sakura, due to the sudden appearance of the new Anathema called Rin, the Dragon-bloods would have much less warning about the coming Anathema threat.

That would not do. He had once heard a story about how Anathema could be forced to reveal their true selves if pushed to their mental limit. He would like to do that but he had no idea about what their mental weak points were.

It's not like he could just talk to them to learn their weakpoints. Sakura would never tell him and he can't understand any of the languages that Rin knows.

He sighed and just talked to the freed slaves some more and went about his day.

* * *

Rin and Sakura were walking together and conversing in Japanese. Basically it was just a talk about the details of their adventures in Creation so far. As we join them Rin is talking about her lessons in the Lunar camp.

She smiled and lifted a finger to imitate her teacher and spoke in a pompous voice "And so, if during the first age the Solars did as we told them this entire situation could have been avoided!"

Sakura laughed but it sounded slightly forced so Sakura cut herself off with a question while still getting over the laughter "Did they really sound like that?"

Rin smiled back "Basically, and they kept claiming that the newly born Solars were 'weak and they need us to survive', Shirou is living proof he's wrong there!"

Sakura grinned and looked to the right of the train of carts where far in the distance the sea could barely be seen.

Her face fell as she began to speak "My story was less interesting," she lied "I was captured by cultists and awoke these powers to escape, I have been wandering the south since. I managed to find Shirou as a group of Lunar were trying to get him to help them on a so called 'Coming invasion of the blessed isle'. We had to fight them off together and Shirou Exalted and beat up the big Lunar by himself."

Rin shrugged "You have improved your control over shadows though?"

Sakura looked away "My new abilities have helped yes."

* * *

As time passed the sun began to dip and the carts stopped to camp for the night. Rin had promised to use her knowledge of mystic codes to help Shirou with an experiment so she stayed up as he gathered his forging equipment. The sun had set completely by the time he walked over to her to begin to discuss the project.

They were to test the magical properties of Creation's Jade and possibly construct a simple mystic code to test the theories they came up with. It would likely have to be an Amplifier type code designed in the same method as Jewel craft. Normally Rin would think that doing that much in a single night as an impossible task but she knew that the exaltations has improved the intelligence of Shirou and herself. It was then possible to do all of this in such a short time.

Shirou brought over the Jade that they would practice with and they both got to work. Normal Thaumaturgy could still work in creation even if some parts didn't so they had all the tools they needed to perfrom the analysis.

After midnight they were both getting tired but they continued for long enough to make a prototype of their theory in the form of a piece of Jade that was cut in a certain way. In theory, the Jade would have been able to draw essence from the air to act as a battery but they couldn't get that working so in the end all they got was a one-use burst of essence. It wasn't even very likely to work so they set it down as a failure. and put it back in the treasure cart.

* * *

End of chapter.

So we are back to the main characters in act 2.

The False Mystic Code they created really was a failure, It is now a one-use battery that holds a small number of motes and has a chance to blow up randomly

...

...

My space key is begining to break. Hopefully this doesn't force me to delay an update to these.


	63. Chapter 54

Slave Traders

* * *

They were now only a day or two away from Paragon and Shirou was concidering how different it would feel without the freed slaves traveling with them. It was good they got to live safely but their homes had still been destroyed when they had been captured to sell. They lost their homes and now had to live elsewhere, he was suprised they were dealing with it so well but he had never noticed any major issues.

They had told him that they would soon be entering the land patrolled by slave catchers. As Paragon was a city where all slaves were freed, many slave catchers thought that it would be ripe pickings of all the slaves running there for safety as they could still be captured until they swore their oaths to the Prefect of Paragon. He had asked Sakura to keep an eye out for them and she had quietly agreed.

Sakura had been quiet recently and Shirou had discovered an ability from his Exaltation that allowed him to analyse magical effects with ease. He had tried to use it to see if there was some sort of curse that she was trying to hide from him but he couldn't tell much. He and Rin had asked her again to just tell them what the problem was but she got quiet and instead of lying she had simply asked them to leave it alone.

Of course Shirou wasn't going to. If something was hurting Sakura then he would find out what it was.

* * *

Sakura felt the darkness rile within her. It was a different darkness to the one that her 'grandfather' had placed into her but it felt similar enough.

Her Coadjutor warned that she was approaching the Limit, with Rin here too now she hadn't been able to 'sacrifice' them to reduce the anger of the Primordials. Because of this the feelings of darkness were growing within her.

"Sakura, you do know the simple option." Her Coadjutor spoke quietly "If you were to ask him to come with you, he would. He cares for you as you care for him and if you took him you would be safe from their wrath."

Sakura's shoulders fell as she kept watch over the road that the train would soon move through. While she agreed to look out for the catchers it has mostly been so she could be alone with her thoughts.

"Please, Is there not any other ways I could resist longer?" Sakura's thoughts were begging but her Coadjutor sighed "I'm sorry, you have at most a week before their wrath comes at this rate. You will either need to perform villainous acts or take Shirou before then."

Sakura closed her eyes in thought "Could I torture one of the slave catchers?"

"If it is one that attacks the party it is possible but remember that that sort of thing can't buy more than a couple of days." Her Coadjutor sounded sad to report that.

Sakura stood up, determined "I will do what I have to."

* * *

Rin was at the back of the carts speaking to something without a physical form. Her Agatae, Rubinrot was still with her.

Rin had honestly expected the demon's task to have been completed but Rubinrot explained in it's bell-like voice.

"My lady summoned me with 'until I dismiss you' from this the binding has me bound for the maximum duration of non-specific orders; a year and a day."

Rin nodded, her Luner teacher had told her to be specific with these oaths but she had forgotten in the moment. She knew that the demon would be in creation until it's time was up so Rubinrot would likely be with her longer then planned.

She was used to having servents that were not as expected so she was fine with Rubinrot staying. She might need to make a quick escape or follow someone by air one day.

Rin then changed the subject "Do you know what Sakura's issue is?"

Rubinrot was quiet for long enough that Rin noticed something was odd but when it spoke it's words sounded perfectly calm "Did you think that I would? I'm not a doctor, my master."

Rin pointed in the direction of Rubinrot's voice "That wasn't an answer, you are mine and so you should answer truthfully."

Again Rubinrot's answer was delayed but in a strained voice it responded "There is nothing about Lady Sakura's condition that I can tell you. I'm sorry."

Rin knew that Rubinrot was still hiding something but it seemed it was hidden where even the absolute loyalty that the spell gave her wasn't enough to make Rubinrot speak. She would try once more however "Rubinrot, I would like your opinion, speak not as my servent but as a demon I have called from Malfeas to serve me. What do you think is the issue?"

A silence followed as the Agatae concidered. Eventually it spoke "She is... like a demon."

"Demonic?" Rin asked agape.

The Agatae spoke clearly "No, at least I don't know. She doesn't act like a normal human. The simplest way I can describe it is as if something 'Twisted' a human into a demonic way of thinking."

Rin looked towards the front of the line where she knew that far off in the distance, Sakura watched for slave catchers.

She worried for her sister.

* * *

Sakura stopped and hid behind a rock. She peaked over it to see the camp of slave catchers. At least that is what she thought they were. They looked like bandits but they carried padded clubs and chains.

They were right in the course of the carts. She had a choice now.

Would she be able to take on the large camp by herself? unlikely, she wasn't confident on fighting any of them close-up and she knew that she couldn't shoot them all with her bow before they got to her.

She clenched her hand at the lost opportunity, if she were only stronger and more confident in her skills then she would be able to become a villain for a villain again.

The people she liked to act like a villain for were monsters themselves, and these slave catchers would be perfect but she couldn't take all of them.

She would be forced to take them after the battle. If they were still here when the carts got here. She began making her way back to where the carts likely stopped for the coming night.

* * *

End of chapter

It feels like nothing much happened this chapter but it did go more into the pressure that Sakura is feeling

As a note; Rubinrot doesn't know for sure what Sakura is but it does suspect. Most Demons know of the infernals but are bound to tight oaths to not speak of them to those who don't know.


	64. Chapter 55

The battle

* * *

Rin sat and looked at the sun that was dipping towards the horizon. Based on what Sakura had reported back they would encounter the slave catchers quickly once they started moving again so Shirou had made the choice for them all to rest for the night.

However Rin thought they might need one more ace in the hole for the battle and had obtained Shirou's help to create an implement. She looked down to gaze at the complex array before her. Sand could never hold this much detail so Shirou had created large iron rings that were engraved with the correct symbols.

She hoped it would be enough as this spell, if it went wrong, could kill every person in the camp with the possible exceptions of herself, Shirou and Sakura. She began the spell that would last until late that night.

* * *

In the early morning light, Shirou was waking everyone up so that they might get moving before the slavers were ready.

The procession was no longer in a long single file but now it was moving in a much more orderly pattern. The front cart was still out in front but to either side of it were a pair of carts that had been cleared of anything important. Behind these five carts were another five, and behind them another.

In the back were those who were unwilling or unable to fight, they were protected from harm by the number of carts the raiders would need to get through to reach them.

Near the front Shirou, Rin and Sakura sat, planning the coming battle. Rin looked exhausted and Shirou was letting her rest after her spell the previous night. Sakura was quiet and soon left to scout for the enemy again.

In the carts behind them were those who were willing to fight, most of them lacked combat training but they were being led by those of them that had and Shirou hoped that it was enough to keep them safe.

* * *

Within an hour Sakura was back, the slave catchers were ready for battle and only a few miles more.

Shirou stood and walked to the carts that the freed slaves who were willing to fight stayed. Trin was with them to act as a translator and relay and he translated Shirou's words to the fighters now.

"The slave catchers are close now, it's time to earn your freedom and break through."

The men and women nodded and stood. Shirou nodded and exited the cart to spot the catchers when they came close enough.

A few minutes passed and he saw one by the glint of a dagger. They were dressed in desert colours and from what he could tell they each had a club and a sword that was not well cared for.

They were hiding in the dunes, waiting to ambush the carts as they passed. There looked to be about 50, though half the size of the groups of freed slaves willing to fight they were likely better trained. The only chance would be to hit them fast.

Sakura had already left to take her position, Rin stepped to his side.

She smiled just a little "They are screwed if we mess up now."

Shirou nodded as she continued "If you take those on the left, I'll take the right."

He glanced towards her with a note of worry in his voice "Do you think you can take that many?"

Her smile turned cruel "They cannot beat me as I am now, they don't even have a ranged weapon."

"Why would-" Shirou started but Rin ducked behind one of the leading carts so anyone who was watching them would lose sight of her before she began to mutter and a great creature appeared beside her.

"This is Rubinrot, I don't think I introduced you." Rin said from where she stood. Shirou gasped as he saw the Agatae "It's quite the sight." He spoke in quiet appreciation but was not expecting the reply from the bell-like voice "Greetings servant of the Sun. I am bound to serve Lady Rin for a year and a day."

Rin had told him about her ability to summon demons but this was the first Shirou had seen of an Agatae and its beauty was took most people off their guard when they first saw one.

Shirou straightened as Rin mounted Rubinrot and the demon began to lift of the ground. Rin looked down to him and called out "Good Luck." only to be followed by Rubinrot calling out "And good hunting!"

* * *

The bandit that hid was feeling confident, these carriages were apparently all escaped slaves on their way to Paragon. The amount of money they would earn from this would truely be incredible.

He sat near the back. They were aranged around a semi-circle that the carts would have to move through to get to Paragon and he could see the carts entering now. Any moment now they would spring into action.

He heard a small sound from where his friend was lying like him, buried just under a surface layer of sand. The plant was to jump out and capture as many slaves as they could in the short time before they figured out what was going on.

His friend made that sound for some reason but talking now might give the game away so he continued to wait.

He continued right until a pitch black arrow found his head.

* * *

Sakura took aim again trying to take out as many as possible before the battle started would lead to a far easier battle. Each arrow she was firing was blunt but still hit with enough force to knock the target unconscious. After the battle she could very likely take some to perform acts of villainy upon.

After she shot all members of a particular squad, she would pull them slowly away from the others and bury them in the sand so they would find it hard to escape if they did wake.

She turned her eyes back to the carts who would be springing the counter ambush any second.

That was when she saw the Agatae rise from behind the lead carts with Rin on it's back.

* * *

Shirou gave the last orders to the fighters and they began to ready the equipment that had been left over from the guards that had not been used for something else yet.

He himself snuck around to the left side of the enemy position as Rin and her Agatae gathered the attention of the catchers.

When he reached the first catchers he stopped long enough for Rin to slowly glide into position on the right side.

There was a moment of silence as Rin began to cast a spell, a long 10 seconds. Suddenly ice formed around her.

The catchers finally realised something was wrong and they jumped to their feet, the sand falling off them and their weapons ready. Shirou cut the three men he had been watching with the khopesh he had made those days ago. The first one didn't see him and his head fell easily, the second managed to raise his club to defend himself but Shirou dropped under his guard to disembowel the man. The third manage to ready both his weapons but Shirou's Exalted power allowed him to see the obvious flaws in the guard, one strike to the hand holding the sword followed by a strike for the eye.

As the third man fell he glanced over at Rin who was raining icy death on all of those below her, she was right that their lack of ranged weapons made them easy to fight. Over by their carts the fighters were begining to pour out to the left and right to fight their way round.

Shirou turned back to his own job and slew another group. The catchers were starting to gather now and they seemed to be rallying to someone.

Suddenly a lance of flames flew from the middle of the bandits towards Rin whose Agatae had seen the danger and had gotten out of the way.

Shirou's next thoughts could be summed up as simply "Oh, they have a sorcerer."

Rin went low on Rubinrot as she called out the trick she had spent last night working on.

"Now! Blutspucke!" Rin spoke out loud and clear in old realm and from nowhere a great beast appeared, A hulking ape with blood red fur and a body covered in horns.

The ape tore through the front lines of the bandits and they began to flee. They knew fear and they ran.

In the end there was nothing left of them but their weapons.

* * *

Sakura looked down at her captives and grimaced. She had tossed all she collected into a pit and after making sure they were all unconscious she began to bury them right alongside the ones who were dead in truth. Her Coadjutor approved it so it would reduce the attention of the Yozi but, it still felt off.

Maybe it's because she had never done this sort of thing to this many people at once. Was she slipping, would she one day kill a village just because she could? She hoped not but continued shoveling the sand.

* * *

End of chapter.

The party's first taste of mass combat! Except they all suck at leading large numbers of troops!

This chapter could be better named "The battle that barely started" or some such.

Either way, Rin has a new demon; Blutspucke the Blood-Ape. It is also bound to her for a year much like Rubinrot.


	65. Chapter 56

Paragon

* * *

Shirou watched the great walls of Paragon grow closer as he reflected upon his time in the south. He was saving over a hundred people and helping them reach a new chance of life. Behind him sat Rin and Sakura who were in quiet conversation about the strange magic of creation.

Trin was at the back of the train of carts, keeping an eye out to see if they would be ambushed as they approached their goal.

It was only to be an hour or two to reach the city so any slavers that stayed around here would have to take their chances soon if they were to attack them before they got to Paragon.

* * *

In the end no one did attack them so the three Exalted brought the carts to the gates of Paragon. There were a few guards on duty and Shirou noticed a symbol on each of their hands.

Trin had told him about Paragon and their method of keeping order. Shirou had been horrified at first of the implications but Rin had pointed out the benefit.

"Paragon will never have to deal with internal unrest, allowing them to focus on their own growth as a community rather than dealing with renegades."

The idea behind Paragon was simple. It's leader was known as the Perfect of Paragon and, as the story went, he had found a lost artifact that allowed him to bind people to oaths sworn using it. Those who swore had the red tattoo of an eye appear on their palm and the oaths were enforced with pain should they break them. In some ways similar to a Geis that he forced on every citizen of the city in order to control them. It was also said to have a second function, this allowed him to use the senses of any who he had bound and even possess them.

However, the stories said it doesn't rob the bearer of their free will and so many flocked here including the freed slaves. From the moment one swears to the Perfect of Paragon they become a citizen and the laws of Paragon make those citizens who were slaves into free men.

Shirou still doubted it was as perfect a place as the freed slaves claimed it was but he would judge the Perfect of Paragon himself. He sounded in some ways as the greatest slave master of all, it all depended on how his citizens were treated.

The guards approached as Sakura stepped forwards and talked to them for a moment in the language of the south. A few moments passed as the guards talked among themselves before they allowed the carts to begin moving in. As they did they passed out gray sheets and said something to Sakura. She listened and handed them out to Rin, Shirou and any of the members of their party who wore colourful clothes. "Wrap this around yourself." She spoke in High Realm so it took a bit of time for everyone to understand but soon the sheets were acting as cloaks for their party.

* * *

They made their way to the warehouse district and the freed slaves began to make their way to the palace of the Perfect. After the carts were safely seen to, Shirou, Rin, Sakura and Trin began following the soon to be free men to the palace.

As they walked through the second set of walls, Rin was starting to feel oddly about the buildings and how perfectly arranged they were, was the Perfect a control freak then? Was the city just a geometry or possibly a geomantic engineering project the size of a city?

With his control he could do it. That might even be the power source of the crystals that stood upon pillars so that they looked like street lights.

Rin began seeing the simple functionality of the city through her Exalted mindset. The city gathered geomantic energy from the city and carried it to the center where the Perfect's palace likely stood as a great manse. It could then distribute the power to where it was needed such as the street lights. An elegent use of space and only really possible due to how much control he had over the architecture of the city

Sakura's take on the city was different, she saw it's darkness. Beneath doorways and within gutters sat men and women who were clearly in pain while the citizens of the city ignored them. It wasn't merely homelessness as she saw some of them were still clean as if they had only started a few hours ago. Something caused them to suffer.

Every citzen wore similar colours, all grayscale. Concidering how the guards at the gate had asked them to cover their brightly coloured clothes it seemed likely it was connected to another law here. Just another weight that people were forced to bare.

A few wore colours, they looked like some sort of lord caste or some kind of judge. Occasionally she saw a person in pain run up to them and confess some deed. Normally their pain went away after that but some simply left in pain and joined the many that huddled in the street.

Something within her riled at this, being trapped forever beneath his rule. The stories said the mark, once given, could never be removed and thus never be escaped. It was a cage with no exit, merely a part of the city ruled by one man.

"It is only right," Her Coadjutor spoke a demons perspective "The weak obey the strong, it is like the laws of hell."

The fact it reflected hell spoke to her in a strange way.

Shirou cared most about the fate of the people he had been protecting so it was they he was thinking about. Would they have a good life here? He had not missed either the good seen by Rin or the evil seen by Sakura. It was a flawed place yet a place worth protecting. It just had diffrent flaws then other places.

The three of them reached the Palace at the city's center, A tall step pyramid built of marble that was something like 100 yards high. It seemed to have entrances higher up but most of the people approaching the palace seemed to head towards the front and the guards that stood there.

The four in their group looked at the palace and looked at each other. "We should at least see." Shirou eventually said. The others nodded and walked towards the palace.

* * *

End of chapter

Each character's first opinions of Paragon

Next chapter... Well honestly, what do you think it will be?


	66. Chapter 57

The Perfect

* * *

Walking up to the manse was easy, getting past the guards was almost as easy. A lie augmented by the truth. Sakura told the guards how they had been traveling with all of the people around them, the freed slaves. She left it implied that they would swear to the Perfect like the rest of them but she never said it directly so they could deny later.

The guards told them to head to the main chamber and that the next Ritual of Subservience was to be in an hour. The party nodded and walked forwards.

The four of them stepped through the entrance of the Manse and looked at the interior, The walls were seemingly made of marble covered in intricate writing that told of storms. The walls were perfectly straight and it looked like this main corridor led right to the main chamber. There had been no door at the front and as far as they could see there were no doors in the manse either. The whole things was open and they could feel a slight wind blow past them as they walked.

In the main chamber contained a large dais and on top that dais was an empty throne, likely for the Perfect when he arived. The room was crowded with the various people they had brought here, waiting patiently and quietly chatting. A few meters above them were balconies that seemed to allow for someone to look down on this room from above, Sakura quietly pointed out that the shadows up there would be a good place for them to watch the oath taking if they didn't want to be seen.

Behind the throne was a young woman in colourful red and blue clothes taking notes, she seemed to be a court official and her slight build and pale skin seemed to show that she didn't see too much of the south's sun. As the group left through a side passage, Shirou glanced back to her and almost jumped when he saw her eyes fixed right on them. After searching for a staircase up for a few minutes they managed to get onto one of the balconies and with Sakura's direction they slipped into the shadows there.

As Shirou told them of how the court official had seen them leave, Rin looked into the room and saw that the woman was no longer there. Sakura, having seen the same, suggested they just leave if that was true as guards might be after them soon enough. Shirou calmed her as they all sat down and waited.

Time passed and eventually a quiet settled across the room as a door in the back opened and a man walked out. His skin was dark and his hair was ash-blond. His age was hard to tell as he had the eyes of a man in his later years yet a boyish face. He wore robes of a golden cloth and on his brow sat a diadem set with great jewel-like lenses. Finally the thing that proved his identity beyond any doubt, in his hand was a great scepter. A five-foot shaft of a golden metal, ending in a ring adorned with various spurs, crescents and crystals. The Perfect of Paragon entered the hall.

Shirou's eyes were drawn to the scepter itself as the man walked to his throne. Some part of him was reading it in the same way he read a weapon. He couldn't grasp it entirely but it's story was recorded as were it's materials and method of creation. Yet something was missing, possibly multiple pieces, he wasn't sure.

He saw the history of the tool and for an instant he saw the first age. The scepter was a piece of a social experiment, One of two artifacts that lay at the experiment's core. Created by a Solar Exalted that demanded absolute loyalty, the staff bound his people into obeying his laws or suffering pain or death. It's master was slain by an "Assassin from the stars" and the scepter was lost to the desert. Just recently it had been found by the man called the Perfect of Paragon who had claimed it and used it's powers to create and rule the city.

Shirou's mind came into focus of the world around him again and he stumbled back. Rin caught him so he wouldn't make a noise and he nodded to her and got up again to keep an eye on the floor below. Having seen the staff he was strangely tired yet he was sure that his eyes had been opened to something.

He had missed the start of the Perfect's speech but it mattered little as he couldn't understand the Flametongue it was being spoken in. Sakura and Trin were listening intently though so he would be able to ask them later.

The Perfect stopped for a moment and called out. The people in the hall moved around for a moment until there were twenty people kneeling before him. He began speaking again. From the tone, Shirou guessed he was speaking the oaths that they would have to swear to. After he finished there was a general mutter from those on the floor before they stood up and stood to the side as another twenty took their place.

This continued for at least fifteen minutes. When they had all sworn the oaths the Perfect ended his speech and waved his had, all within the hall then respectfully left leaving only the Perfect in the hall.

Sakura frowned slightly before she heard some Flametongue from the door to the balcony "Did you enjoy watching that?" A calm yet slightly accusatory voice. Everyone turned to see the woman from earlier standing there watching all of them, her eyes piercing.

"Now then, you all get a choice; Accept the oaths yourselves or surrender to an arrest while I find out how you got in here."

Sakura turned and translated for the others (Into japanese) before turning back and replying to the woman "We just walked up here, it's not like there was a locked door."

The woman glared for a moment longer before sighing "I'll escort you to a room where we can talk then. I am getting the full story of why you came today."

Sakura translated for the benefit of the others before nodding. The group then followed the woman to a lounge-like room of soft furniture.

The woman sat first and spoke frankly "My name is Scarlet Whisper, Answer truthfully and I may allow you to all walk free."

She looked around the room as the others sat before continuing "Are you the rescuers of the new citizens that I heard them talk about?"

Sakura nodded before raising her hand "More people in our group know High Realm than Flametongue, can we change to that?"

Scarlet Whisper's reply was in fluent High Realm "We can, now then." Her eyes turned again into a piercing stare "What types of Exalts are all of you?"

* * *

End of chapter.

Nothing much to say.

Shirou's mind isn't quite ready to understand an N/A level artifact just yet, while it was forged by "The hands of men" those hands were not truely mortal nor using mortal means.

All he has now is a "Pattern" of the Scepter, something like... The blueprint of a blueprint? Either way, the normal means of projecting and tracing won't work for it.

Also before anyone says something about the scepter not being something UBW would copy... Shirou's Exaltation changed his reality marble's nature. Even calling it Unlimited Blade Works isn't really correct anymore.

The Reality Marble's new nature will be revealed over the next act.

Correction; Scarlet Whisper's name was spelled wrong


	67. Chapter 58

Interrogated

* * *

Scarlet Whisper's question was met with silence for a good twenty seconds before Sakura put on a tone of disbelief and asked "What? Why would any of us be one of the princess of earth?"

Trin nodded fervently "True, none of them are the blood of the dragons."

Scarlet Whisper glanced back and forth appraisingly "Interesting, though you agree one of you is lying and the other believes what they are saying."

The two of them went still as her eyes turned to Shirou "Do you have any input here?"

Shirou deftly deflected the question in a most Shirou like way "You are saying that we are Exalted as we saved those citizens, I ask you; do we need to have powers to try and save people?"

Scarlet Whisper looked carefully at him "No but it would help you almost single-handedly fight off those slave catchers."

There was silence as she continued "The new citizens of Paragon claim that while you had them prepare for battle, they only needed to help at the end as before that you were handling it by yourself."

"But still," Sakura cut in almost pleading "We didn't do anything special, we are just skilled guards." Her words were filled with the lying power of her patron but none there could sense it.

Scarlet Whisper looked in her eyes and smiled. She then closed her eyes and spoke "I'm sorry, I understand you are trying hard-"

Her eyes sprang open "But your lie is revealed by actions seen by the citizens of Paragon."

She took a breath before continuing, everyone else was too surprised to react "When you fought the bandits, your friend," at this she nodded at Rin "Was seen riding a demon."

She looked between the party again as she spoke "Now there are two possibilities for that; either your diabolists and the demon allowed you to ride it due to the situation there or you were Exalted with access to the surrender pacts along with sorcerous bindings."

Scarlet Whisper put on a beautiful smile as she continued "As we kill diabolists, don't you all think you should tell the truth?"

There was silence before Trin looked like he wanted to speak, a look from Sakura shut him up.

Sakura looked towards their interrogator and spoke "Fine we are dragon-blooded Exalted. You got us."

"No," Scarlet Whisper spoke firmly before she continued "If you had been members of the Terrestrial Exalted you wouldn't have hidden it for this long unless you were spies."

An eyebrow rose slightly "If you were a spy then you would have your choice of swearing to the Perfect of Paragon or dying. Again however your actions remind me more of the curious than a spy."

She closed her eyes as if building up to something before speaking with an imposing voice "I, Scarlet Whisper, Diplomat of the sun, do question your natures. Speak now or be seen as enemies of creation."

Shirou felt the magic in those words as they twisted into him, demanding he answer one simple question, demanding him to tell what sort of exalted he was. He focused his integrity yet still wouldn't hold for long.

Luckily Trin spoke first and it was less than clear "Demons, you are all demons and destroyers of the rightful rulers of earth, vile Anathema slaves of hell!"

He kept going like that for a few moments before Sakura lightly tapped on his shoulder, that shut him up.

More silence ensued before Scarlet Whisper coughed "Well, that answered that. Now are you Lunars, Solars or Sidereal?"

Sakura raised a hand "I and Shirou are Solars, Rin is a Lunar." A partial lie to cover herself.

Scarlet Whisper sighed "Now that wasn't hard now was it?"

* * *

The interrogation soon became just a conversation. Scarlet Whisper it seemed was the lead diplomat for Paragon so she enjoyed hearing about what was going on in other parts of the world. When she had heard about Shirou's time on the blessed isle she asked in a quiet whisper "How far from the civil war do you think we are?"

Shirou shrugged "A few months, maybe less."

Scarlet Whisper looked perked up a bit before looking sad. Shirou didn't question her about it though.

She also told them more about Paragon. It turned out that only people of importance wearing colourful clothing had a use. The Perfect of Pargon had traded away "The colour of the city" for various boons from the gods.

Eventually the conversation came to an end.

Scarlet Whisper looked sad as if she expected the answer to her next question "You wouldn't want to stay here by any chance."

A round of no was her reply so she continued "We have many artifacts we could offer you, we could offer Rin books of sorcery spells and you Shirou could be allowed to use our magic item creation workshops.

Again the party refused.

"Will you at least stay a few days to rest?" A final question.

The party spoke between themselves for a few moments before agreeing to stay a few days. At that they were brought to a few guest rooms within the Manse and left alone.

* * *

The moon was high in the sky when Sakura woke up, she felt something within her pound.

Her Coadjutor spoke quickly but calmly as if awaiting a storm "Sakura, you will soon pass the line at which they will inflict torment upon you."

Sakura jumped to her feet quickly as her Coadjutor continued "I don't know exactly how long you have but your options are ever the same; Either you go to Shirou now and ask him to run with you or you go out into the town and perform acts of villainy."

Sakura leaped through the window, her answer ever the same.

As she stalked the town she found someone hiding in a gutter. Likely someone who had broken the laws of Paragon then. She slew him slowly, a spear in the gut and walking away. Even in the best case if he got treatment his blood would still be poisoned by the waste in his gut.

It was enough to lower her limit slightly, enough to be safe a bit longer.

Unfortunately she had been seen.

* * *

End of chapter


	68. Chapter 59

Breaking apart

* * *

Shirou sat in his room gazing out at the moon. As he did, he wondered about the coming civil war on the blessed isle. He wanted to minimise the loss of life but he didn't know how. Could Rin or Sakura perhaps talk the opponents into surrender? On that note would they even join in? Might they just attempt to sneak into the great store of magic knowledge while the isle is busy at war. That wasn't actually too bad of a plan but it meant that they would do nothing to speed the war along.

While Shirou eventually slept he thought more about the wars and ramifications of them up until he drifted off.

* * *

Rin would likely have looked at the moon but her room had no window that faced it. On her mind was Sakura as she was sure there was something wrong with her and she wasn't talking about it. Rubinrot had claimed she possessed a mind like a demon, that could mean many things but as Sakura wasn't talking she couldn't be sure which. She was an Exalted; that was a fact so it limited the options.

Option 1; She was literally possessed by something. Rin didn't know if the Exalted could be possessed in that way but it had to be said in this case. Demons were spiritual beings in their native form and her Lunar teacher had said something once while teaching about demons. Rin had been told that there were certain types of demons who were experts at possessing people, only mortals had been mentioned but it still left the question of if they worked on the Exalted.

Option 2: While those cultists she had mentioned had her captive they had twisted her mind into something demonic. This could explain the demonic personality that Rubinrot claimed she saw but Rin had been taught that most mental afflictions left you upon the moment of Exaltation. Either this 'Demonic will' was strong enough to endure or Sakura had still been captured after she had exalted. Either was bad news.

Rin wondered if there was a sorcery she could learn to get the truth out of Sakura. She clearly knew what was wrong but it seemed that it was a secret she even wanted to keep from Shirou. Last time she had tried that she had ended up possessed by Angra Mainyu and that...

Was that it? Was Angra Mainyu still in there somehow and causing problems for her? She still could control shadows after all, had he left something in her?

Rin resolved to continue thinking and it took a few hours for her to find sleep.

* * *

Sakura wasn't in her room.

She was skulking out of sight, she would personally claim to simply be stealthily making her way back to her room but it was definitely skulking. She had just left a man to die after all.

Sakura stopped for a minute and sat on a rooftop. While another man was now dead at her hands she didn't feel anything for him at all. For each of her past villainous killings it left her feeling a grim satisfaction or a sadness like morning depending on the reason she had chosen them to be a target.

It was her Coadjutor that explained quietly "All the previous killings normally had a second motive. You were either killing an enemy or you were killing someone who would endanger yourself, Shirou or the bond between. This time you killed simply to prevent torment."

Sakura remained quiet for a moment before asking "That can't be it, I have killed to prevent torment before and I felt that mournful melancholy. What then?"

"It is a diffrent intention, in the past you have seen it as a necessary evil to stay by Shirou's side and protect him. But now..."

Sakura's anger flared momentarily "What are you saying, that I don't care about Shirou any more. I am! I won't ever let him die."

"Then perhaps, you are simply used to killing?"

The question struck hard. Sakura looked toward the moon for a moment before getting up and continuing to skulk back to the Manse.

* * *

Trin lay on his bed. The teachings of the Immaculate order washed through his mind along with his experiences in the south so far.

He tried to draw the two together and all that resulted were errors. So then which was wrong? The Immaculate order or himself.

If the order was right he had been brainwashed by the vile Anathema and he should be doing more to resist them.

If he was right then then these Anathema, those connected to Shirou were diffrent than the standard fare. 'The Anathema destroyed the world in the past', such is taught by the order. If Shirou was going to destroy the world, it wouldn't be by his own choice, he was sure.

Sakura was pure evil of course and nothing could save her at this point. The sooner the Wyld hunt could learn of her the better they all were.

The other one Rin? He hadn't had much opportunity to speak with her. She consorts with demons and that could very easily damn her. Only the Exalted princes of the earth were alowed to do that for a reason. Those lacking willpower and strenght will simply be killed by their demons and allow them to wander free.

There being an believer in the Anthema being Exalted in Paragon was important news though, that was something that should get back to the isle.

* * *

The Perfect wrote down all that he had seen from the eyes of the beggar. He had been sitting nearby and had hidden himself when the girl had dropped from the roof.

He had seen her kill a fellow law breaker and then leave. If she was mad enough to kill random people in a town she is staying in with his direct permission then that left two options.

She cared so much about the rules that she kills law breakers. This was the option that showed her in a better light but it was likely false. Either way he would request that she be branded, if she was truely such a chaotic element it was required.

The darker option is that she simply wanted to kill something. Would that be true then she would certainly need to receive the symbol. He would see that she is properly punished for her law breaking.

Either way, the upside is he gets a new Exalted bound by the eye.

The Perfect smiled as he continued to write the document listing her crime.

* * *

End of chapter

This is pure filler, I will admit that.

I was simply tired when I wrote this and thought that you deserved something in the new year.

next chapter I'll promise is more interesting.


	69. Chapter 60

Split paths

* * *

Early next morning, Shirou woke up to a quiet knock on his door. The sun wasn't even fully up yet but he walked over and opened it to see Sakura.

She was quiet for a moment before asking if she could come in, Shirou nodded and they both sat down on the bed.

"I don't like it hear," She admitted quietly "There is a pressure here that I can't stand."

Shirou looked concerned for her and asked "Do you want to leave today?"

Sakura just nodded quietly "The shorter the time we spend here the better."

"We'll leave later then, we will buy supplies after saying farewell to the Perfect and if we can we'll leave before noon."

Sakura thanked him and left. Shirou's instincts told him she had another reason but he trusted her. He just got ready for the day, doing a simplified version of his morning exercise. While he would have preferred to practice tracing there was currently some sort of block in place since his Exaltation that prevented him from tracing normally. Luckily the Projection practice that Rin had drilled into him could still be used. Gradation Air might be nowhere near as impressive without full access to tracing but the underlying idea was the same. It's steps were diffrent as were the end result but he was able to use it to create weapons should he need them.

* * *

By the time Rin woke up the sun was already up and judging by the knocking on her door she was late for something. For what she had no idea.

She slid out of bed, straightened her clothes and hair with her hands and opened the door. Shirou and Sakura were outside. Rin raised an eyebrow "What are we doing?" she spoke in Japanese just in case someone was listening in.

"We are leaving, Sakura is disturbed by this place and I agree. We were just going to inform the Perfect and Scarlet Whisper of our intention to leave." Shirou spoke simply and Rin looked disappointed

"There is so much we could learn from this city, Even just looking around could help us understand the Geomancy of this world."

Sakura's turned her face slightly, her eyes had a tint of worry in them "Please Rin." It came out quietly in a pleading voice.

Rin just sighed "Very well, Though I do intend to learn the details of this world's Magecraft. Next place then."

A small and grateful smile grew on Sakura's face and they all headed down to the Perfect's hall where ceremony of swearing people in occured.

There it seemed one such ceremony was in full swing. Shirou went off to get Trin while the others watched the events from the same balcony they used the first time.

* * *

Trin was unhappy, The demon had ordered him to sell all but one cart from the group they came here with along with the beasts of burden that pulled them and to buy the provisions that they would need going on from Paragon. She had ordered all of this done by noon.

Did the demon know how hard it was to sell carts to non-traders? did she just think 'They need to be sold so sell them'? It was absurd. Only traders and travellers bought carts as they were the only people who needed them. Everyone in this town was marked and thus not allowed to travel and travellers and traders who came here already had the carts they needed.

He guessed they could be converted to firewood then sold like that. The only issue with that idea was that heat was never really an issue in the south considering that they were close to the pole of fire.

He continued to wonder the town to think of a plan.

* * *

"He isn't in his room." Shirou said as he rejoined the group. Sakura knew that already but decided not to mention it.

Rin looked around and shrugged "He'll come back later, probably."

They watched as the ceremony ended and the new citizens left the Manse. Then they headed down the stairs to the hall. As they went Rin focused and spoke a word, Sakura didn't know what she said but she felt a pulse as a certainty washed over her, the word that Rin had just spoken was a powerful word. Rin reached up to her mouth and waved her fingers around in a certain pattern as if weaving. Within a few moments Rin's lower face and ears was covered by something like a veil with a mouth on it.

When the Perfect saw them he held up his hand to a noble who was talking to him and spoke quickly in Flametongue "Make space, These are _important_ guests."

Sakura didn't like the way he had said important but the three of them came forward. At the sight of her veil the king chuckled and spoke in old realm "The Sacred Tongue? You should have used that before if you knew it."

Rin shrugged and spoke in Japanese "It is good for travellers, I don't like paying the essence cost unless it is important however." As she spoke the lips on the veil moved and repeated her words in an echoing voice.

The Perfect nodded "Fair enough, so then why have you all come before me today?"

Shirou stepped forward "We thank you for your hospitality but we would like to leave so this is our farewell." He spoke in High realm as he still had not learned Flametongue.

The Perfect lay back on his throne "Fair enough but something before that," He nodded to Scarlet Whisper who stood to his side "Please listen."

Scarlet Whisper took a piece of paper out from a small bag slung around her shoulder and began to read.

"Sakura, choosen of the sun is accused of the crime of murder. Late last night she slew a Paragonese Lawbreaker, the crime was witnessed by another citizen who while under oath not to lie informed the lord Perfect about the crime. How does the accused plead?"

There was a moment of utter silence, Shirou and Rin glanced back at Sakura who appeared to be in shock at the crime that she was being accused of.

Sakura's mind raced but most options were cut off. She could still try however.

"It's a trick," she spoke quickly to the Perfect "Your informant is lying." She laced her words with magic.

The Perfect looked confused for a few moments before shaking his head "No I don't think he would. I assume by your words you claim to be innocent?"

"Of course she's innocent," Rin was angry "Sakura wouldn't kill without good reason!"

Scarlet Whisper stepped forward and spoke to Sakura "Speak the truth and let nothing be unknown!" the order was powerful and Sakura opened her mouth about to admit to everything. Her Coadjutor stepped in however "You fool, she is bending your will. Use your essence, Use the power of the Ebon Dragon!"

Sakura closed her mouth a moment before starting again "I'm not lying," A lie "I never killed anyone last night!" A second lie.

The Ebon Dragon was the master of lies and it was that power that Sakura used to manipulate. She poured her power into her words to bend the wills of all who heard her.

The Perfect turned to Scarlet Whisper "Are we really sure that she did it?"

Scarlet Whisper looked at Sakura whose face was a mask of honesty. "Yes." she said finally "You lie and use your essence to twist the will of the judge, if that is not an indication of guilt then we are blind. Guards!"

The guards around the room stood to attention at her order while the Perfect's focus hardened.

Shirou was looking at Sakura in a mix of Dread and horror. It broke something in Sakura. She knew she only had one chance at this, Her limit was only moments away.

"Please Shirou," Sakura begged "come with me and don't ask questions."

Shirou's expression softened but upon looking around it hardened again. Rin now stood with the same sort of expression that Shirou wore moments ago.

Quietly Shirou spoke "No, answer me Sakura. Did you do it?"

Just as quietly, Sakura broke "Yes."

A feeling of pain and betrayal washed out of her as if a dam had broken. The pain washed forth and Shirou and Rin took a step back.

Fast as thought her shadow lashed out, A rope of shadows bound Shirou's wrist and began to grow over his arm.

Rin stepped forward but a spear shot out of Sakura's shadow which was now pitch black. Rin was forced to parry quickly before Sakura grabbed the spear and stepped in as if to impale her.

"What is wrong with you Sakura?" Rin yelled in panic and worry.

Sakura was saying something under her voice, When Rin listened in her worry grew, Sakura was repeating a single word in Old Realm constantly.

"Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. HATE. HATE. HATE. HATE. HATE. HATE. HATE!"

Her whispering soon became easier to hear and it slowly grew to a yell.

"I HATE YOU!"

Her spear danced around as the rope of shadow was binding Shirou's arm. She was no expert with the weapon but she moved like a woman possessed, when the guards stepped forward to stop her, the spear's tip grew to that of a Naginata and she took the head of the closest guard. That made them stop.

Eventually Shirou got through the shock and used a charm to create a glowing sword which he used to cut the ropes. Seeing this Sakura howled in anger and pounced on him. As she cast a shadow over him, more ropes rose from the floor to hold him but he cut them all.

Sakura looked at him and her voice was far firmer than he normally heard "You will come with me Senpai." not a request anymore, she was ordering him.

"What happened to you." Shirou spoke simply.

Sakura smiled "I don't care anymore, I don't care about anything but you."

As she spoke her hair bleached and turned white, her veins blackened till they were clearly visable against her skin.

In the crowd someone cried out "Demon!"

In a single moment Sakura held a bow and shot an arrow at the source of the voice.

Shirou looked at her "I won't follow you while you're like this."

Sakura grinned manically "Then I'll make you."

Sakura danced towards him, now carrying a chain with a blade on the end like Rider used to weild. She flung the blade and Shirou cut the shadows apart. Sakura cursed and went low to try and wrap the chains around him yet Rin stepped forward and hit Sakura from nowhere.

Sakura then leaped, not towards Shirou but towards the door.

"I may not be able to take you now Senpai but I'll be back for you!"

She ran out just as the Perfect and Scarlet Whisper began to react after the sudden change.

Scarlet Whisper was the first to speak "Guards, After her." She then turned to Shirou and Rin "You two, with me."

* * *

End of chapter

And I finally got to this point.

For those of you who don't know Exalted, two things I can now say;

Sakura's Madness was caused by her limit break. Kimbery's Torment makes you hate things you previously loved Her love for Shirou was protected from the effect because of how he is her guiding purpose but everything else (including the budding familial bond between her and Rin) was fair game.

Sakura's Weapon is called the Compliant Umbral Panoply, I think you can get it from the story but it allows her to create shadowy weapons to fight with.

This chapter was really the point where the story's act 2 begins. Hope you are looking forward to it!


	70. Chapter 61

Searching

* * *

"You will regret this in time."

Sakura quickly moved through the city's dark spots, hiding and avoiding the guards that had been sent after her.

"These sort of episodes only last so long. After that you will see all this differently."

Sakura slipped past a guard, a silent shadow arrow killed another.

"I wonder what you will say then? Will you say I should have warned you?"

Sakura hid in an alcove as a large group of guards ran past her.

"Because I did, I told you there wrath was not peaceful and I told you how to hold it off."

Sakura stepped out of the alcove and continued on to the town walls.

"To be fair, I never told you what great lady Kimbery's torment did. In addition to that..."

Sakura came to the wall and stopped, she couldn't go through the main gate seeing how much it was guarded and the wall was too high to climb normally.

"You did try and hold it off, I won't deny that. You tried your best to make sure it didn't happen."

Sakura moved so her shadow was larger and reached into her Compliant Umbral Panoply, she pulled out a shadow grappling hook. She tossed it to climb the nearby house first.

"Ah but it still occured, maybe taking the boy in the first place would have been better but it's all in the past now."

She climbed to the roof and quickly threw the hook again, over the great city wall.

"Malfeas is the only thing that can act as your home now, while I find that place fine you might still find it alien. Your soul is still mostly human after all."

She swung to the wall and climbed it, one step at a time. She heard a calling voice from the city, she didn't know if someone had seen her or not but she began climbing faster.

"I don't think any human has ever really felt safe there, it literally has a toxic atmosphere after all."

She reached the top of the wall and glanced back to see the town guards carrying bows, the first fired but at that point she had already slipped over the wall.

"I mean you do have a house from your predecessor but I doubt you really think of it as _your_ home, it's not your style."

Sakura began running into the desert, her charms activating to keep her safe in the scorching sun.

"Ah well, maybe I'll say this all again when you are actually listening to me." Sakura's Coadjutor sighed.

* * *

Rin and Shirou had been searching the town but Scarlet Whisper found them both and delivered the news that Sakura had escaped.

They met up in the Manse. They were quiet for a time before they spoke nearly at the same time "We need to follow her."

Scarlet Whisper walked in around that time "If she truely was a demon she could have retreated only to strike again later."

"She isn't a demon!" Shirou declared but Rin was thinking.

Rin finally spoke while Scarlet Whisper considered how to tell Shirou the truth "Have you ever seen anything like her before?"

Scarlet Whisper stopped and thought for a moment before speaking "She claimed to be a Solar, it is possible that she was lying or that she had become an Akuma."

"Akuma?" Shirou and Rin were supprised, the word meant demon in Japanese. They wondered how a seemingly Japanese word had become a word for demons.

Scarlet Whisper nodded "Akuma were humans, they were normally Exalted but not always, that sold their souls to the Yozi for power."

Rin covered her mouth with her hand and repeated "Selling your soul for power."

Scarlet Whisper continued "They are reshaped by the Yozi and take on demonic traits, they also become slaves to their Urge, a supernatural order given by the Yozi that made them."

"So then," Shirou started "she is under the effects of an Urge and by getting rid of it we can get the old Sakura back?"

Scarlet Whisper shook her head "There is no record that I have ever read that tells of a way to free an Akuma, on the contrary in fact many claim it to be impossible."

There was silence for a moment before Rin spoke "I'll follow her, alone."

The other two looked at her as if she had gone mad so she explained "The Urge she has been given seems to be about taking you somewhere Shirou. If I go alone it might not act up. In addition I have my bound demons if I need help."

Shirou shook his head vigorously "No, it's not safe. What if she escapes to hell?"

Rin took a breath "I'll follow her, I'll find her with help from my demons and I'll bring her back."

As if the matter had been decided she then stood up and turned to Scarlet Whisper who had raised an eyebrow at their conversation "Scarlet Whisper, could you arrange a travelling bag for me, food and water for a few weeks?"

She almost laughed "If you are travelling to Malfeas you will need to cross a desert that absorbs all life and takes five days to cross. In addition there is a limit to what you can carry. I can promise you a week of supplies at minimum but after that you are on your own in Malfeas."

Rin closed her eyes to think before opening them in a flash "Very well but I request three weeks total, One to go and two to return with."

Scarlet Whisper grinned "Very well."

Shirou stood up quickly "I don't agree to this!" Rin looked around and said "I'm sorry but I will do this and you can't stop me, this is the best way to save her. You should go with the mortal and continue on the journey back to the Blessed Isle. We will catch up with you."

There was a moment of absolute silence.

"Okay." it looked like Shirou forced the word out.

* * *

End of chapter.

Just an intro to the two/three plotlines of this arc.


	71. Chapter 62

Tracker, Tracking.

* * *

Rin was traveling into the desert for half a day before she realised she couldn't find Sakura's trail.

In the Lunar camp she had been taught how to track in many terrains as it would be important if she wanted the heart blood of an animal. However as far as she could tell, Sakura had not been leaving a trail.

Upon realising this Rin cursed, her demons floated intangibly next to her so she spoke "Rubinrot, could she have entered Malfeas already?"

"No," Rubinrot assured her "It has not yet been long enough to cross the endless desert. If she has gotten that far though you don't have a chance of catching her before she reaches hell."

Rin thought for a moment "Are either of you good at tracking."

"Only blood." The Blood ape she had named Blutspucke spoke soon followed by "Not if it is a charm that hides her." from Rubinrot.

Rin thought for another moment "What species of first circle demon could help me with this?"

"Luminata" Blutspucke spoke quietly. When Rin looked confused Rubinrot continued "Luminata, The deer that hunt men. They would work fine for this but waiting for midnight to summon it would leave you a day behind in the search."

Rin nodded thoughtfully "True, but we don't have much hope of finding her normally. I will wait."

* * *

At sunset she pulled out the bag of powder she had been given in Paragon for summoning without proper tools. Inside the bag was a glittering black powder that she used to create a circle. She then touched a finger to the line and sent a small amount of essence into it to activate it.

The circle solidified into a band of metal, mostly black but with specks of gold and silver within it. The band expanded and locked itself in place.

It was only strong enough for one summoning but it would do much better than the sand she had been forced to use the first time.

When the moon was at it's highest she began, Before she had started the circle, Rubinrot had explained the hierarchy that the Luminata was at so Rin could focus on that while summoning.

"Come forth and serve me oh progeny of the Living Tower. I call a deer that hunts man. Come before me to hunt and serve me as is required by the oaths of surrender."

In hellish green light the demon appeared, it looked like a stag made of white tentacles. Rin's will clashed with the demon. After a moment the stag spoke.

"What would you have me hunt that you could not Child of the Moon?"

"I seek a quarry who can hide their tracks from me and who is likely escaping to Malfeas. I only seek them to save them, not to kill."

The Luminata tilted it's head "Disapointing. Regardless you have my services until the quarry is found.

The summoning complete the Luminata stepped out of the circle "Do you have anything of hers that I could try to smell for?"

"Before we exalted we were family, can you track through that?" Rin asked.

"Unlikely." The Luminata replied which Rin had kind of been expecting.

Rin sighed "Then your hunt shall begin in earnest when we enter Malfeas. Which way is the closest entrance to the endelss desert.

Her demons looked around for a moment before all pointing the same way, further south.

Rin picked up her supplies "Right, lets go. The sooner we are in the sooner we get to Malfeas right?"

* * *

"Do you have a name for your own?"

According to the demons they had only a mile before they got to the gate to the endless desert so she decided to ask a question of her new servant.

"No, I am not yet a citizen." Luminata replied

Rin concidered for a while as they drew close to the gate. She finally spoke again as they approached the line in the sand which was a different colour.

"I will name you Silber then." she looked at the Luminata who looked back in surprise. After a momnet it nodded but Rin thought it might have looked pleased. Hard to tell with a face made of tentacles.

Rin stepped over the line of pale sand and the entire desert around her shifted. She felt the warped nature of this place immediately.

She smiled and walked on "Geben Sie alle Hoffnung auf, wenn Sie hier eintreten" she spoke quietly in german before repeating in Japanese "Give up all hope when you enter here" It was not the best translation but she could be excused for have read the inferno in a language she actually knew.

In this desert nothing lived, her demons walked behind her, now that they were in a spiritual realm their natural state became physical.

It took five days to cross the endless desert. 120 hours after you entered you would reach Malfeas. No matter what speed you travelled at the time was exact.

* * *

Sakura was about ten hours ahead of her sister. She travelled without food and she ignored her constant companion so she was alone. She walked, filled with Love, Hate and Jealousy.

She would make them pay. That is what she thought. She planned to increase her power enough that she could force Shirou to come with her. Then she would have him to herself again.

* * *

End of chapter.

Yes a bit short but I needed to introduce Rin's third demon and show the travel to Malfeas.

I appologise for the google translate German this chapter. If anyone can think of a better name that Rin would use for the Luminata I would gladly take it.

For the German "Geben Sie alle Hoffnung auf, wenn Sie hier eintreten" was the closest Google translate could get to "abandon all hope ye who enter here" a line from Dante's inferno. In addition all of Rin's Demons are named in German.


	72. Chapter 63

Alone with another

* * *

Shirou adjusted the large bag on his back as he and Trin walked east back to Chiaroscuro, They had done what they said they would and were returning.

He wondered if Trin's letter had reached her or if she was not in Chiaroscuro yet. Either way it would be good if the civil war was done with quickly, if the archive Nereth had spoke of could only be safely accessed after the war, Shirou would see it done quickly.

Trin's thoughts were diffrent, A few silent prayers were being said to thank the dragons for causing the Anathema Rin to run after her demonic sister. He had hoped that the reveal of that demoness would have made Shirou realise that he should fight her or at least abandon her. But he had looked so determined to follow the sisters into hell. It had been Rin herself that stopped him, why? Did the demons not want his help? With how noble he still seemed, corrupting him should have been a high priority to them, but they didn't

It all confused Trin. He had been told the Anathema were wily monsters who hunt with intelligence so it might all be one big trick. But was Shirou the target or was it Trin?

* * *

They walked for days in close to silence, occasionally they would talk a little while resting but most of those conversations were short and didn't result in anything.

One such night, Shirou had gone to practice his magic. He started with a projection of a simple sword. In his hand appeared the blade he had thought of but it glinted strangely in the light. He held and examined it before striking it against a nearby stone. It began making a cut before his imagination fell apart and it shattered back into magical energy.

He tried again with a simple spear, again the metal in the spear head glinted slightly wrong, regardless he threw it and it flew well. He had never learned much about usign the spear however as most of the time he was using a traced weapon that told him how it was meant to be held and wielded.

He tried projecting a few more weapons before he reached the final test, he would try to trace.

Judging the concept of creation, he let his mind's eye rest upon a simple blade, no magical properties so it wouldn't take much to attempt. It was a classic English longsword, likely pulled from his dreams of Saber as most of his mundane blades were.

Hypothesizing the basic structure, he thought about the blade and made a blue print.

Duplicating the composition material, bloomery steel strangely enough. It was the first process that could create steel and yet according to legend, Saber was alive around 500 AD, about half a millennium before bloomery steel was invented. Curious.

Imitating the skill of its making, he understood the bloomery steel process then added the talent of a medieval blacksmith.

Sympathizing with the experience of its growth, something stopped him here. He could complete all previous steps but here was the roadblock. For the first time however he would try to leave out this step to try and finish the trace.

Reproducing the accumulated years, Shirou gasped down breath while imagining the decay the blade went through, not too much however. It was a mostly new blade when the memory had seen it. Something seemed off about it though, something was missing.

Excelling every manufacturing process, strangely this went even smoother than normal, each step in the process done the moment he thought of it. The pieces clicked and he attempted to draw the blade into his hand, when he did he immediately dropped it.

The blade was strange, he tried to pick it up again but the moment he started to practice swordplay with it, it slipped from his hands and hit the sand again.

It could be held but not fought with, was it then even a sword? Additionally keeping it in the world was taking more effort then his traces had taken even before exalting. It was trying to fall into pieces.

He sat down to theorise the issue. steps five and six normally to do with the ability the weapon possessed. All of a legends powers come from those steps. What then was causing the issues here. The increased cost was obvious, without stage 5 all that stage 6 could do was accumulate damage without any positive legends to reinforce the blade it might want to simply rust away.

Step 5 was more confusing, but it made a strange kind of sense. From the traced sword's perspective, this was the first time it was being wielded. It had no experience of battle.

So was that the block, the issue was that the weapons' histories could not be properly read. Why?

He kept practicing but eventually just decided to look at himself instead of his weapons. The Exaltation process had restructured his soul, it might have damaged the circuits that deal with the history of a weapon.

It turned out worse then that. The process had burned away all of his circuits. He even did a test to make sure. When he was projecting and failing to trace he was applying some pockets of magic inside his soul, those pockets were like half-formed charms designed to "Manage" his old magecraft. It wasn't doing a very good job though clearly.

He swapped out a few processes, He had a charm that strengthened a target object so when performing projecting he tried swapping out reinforcing for the charm. It kind of worked but in a flawed way; the created blade was stronger but apon testing it blew itself up like a broken phantasm.

Shirou lay down to rest wondering if he would be able to develop a charm to help with the tracing issue.

* * *

End of chapter

I'm sorry if you didn't enjoy this one. the original notes only had the first four paragraphs and I had to add something else to make up space so I decided to add the reason for the debuff to his magic. This sort of thing is true for all of the characters from fate but it is less of an issue for the others as their magecraft wasn't exploiting a tiny possibility to work correctly.

At it's most simple; imagine the soul was a computer system. A magus's soul contains all the features needed to run the spells. When they exalted however, the exalted soul doesn't have as many features. As the exalted don't normally get weaker when they exalt I had the idea for the Exaltation shard to basically be running an emulator for Magecraft. it works in most cases but Tracing and UBW are very difficult to emulate so Shirou is having issues. Learning more charms is the answer.

He still has his reality marble of course, it was damaged slightly by the exaltation but by now it is almost fully repaired (With slightly diffrent properties than the original UBW), the moment Shirou regains access to his advanced Magecraft it will be ready to use (Assuming he can make a new Aria for it)


	73. Chapter 64

Memories

* * *

"Please!" she spoke to the assembled hall, they all watched her. Some of them wore pity, some wore contempt and some didn't seem to care.

Behind her, her mentor cleared his throat "Indeed, young one here is right. The Clear Glass Accord is surely worth the effort."

Someone in the upper part of the hall scoffed "Why should we care about the mortals, most don't reach 50 years while most of us have been around since we saved them over a millennium ago. The gift would be wasted on them."

The girl (For through her eyes this scene being seen) turned to her mentor who nodded sagely, she turned back to the hall "But what about those newly exalted?" She asked, her training allowing her to speak without any tremor in her voice. There was a moment of quiet conversation throughout the hall but the girl pressed on "Exalts growing up in poverty or with their lives ruined by the law. When they Exalted they would think to change the system."

The same voice from before spoke out "Then what of you child? You who grew up in these so called 'poor conditions' why do you speak when you could be raising an army of mortals against us? Oh right, because they could **never win**?"

The force of the speaker's personality washed over the hall causing some to nod, even the queen on her throne tilted her head. It was then her mentor stepped in, he rose to his full hight and put on a smirk "Really? You say that now but are we not kings and queens of creation? Are kings and queens not those who guarantee good lives for their subjects?"

"We did that." The voice retorts "We saved them from the primordials. After that anything else would be silly."

"I disagree." The hall went silent as all eyes turned to the high queen. She stood up and spoke "I am for the Clear Glass Accords, I believe that prosperity for the people is worth the effort, would any disagree."

There was absolute silence. The queen clapped "A vote then, All in favour?"

Hands rose throughout the hall, in the end it was two to one for. The Clear Glass Accords went into effect.

Outside the Deliberative, the girl and her mentor sat on a bench and talked. In the end they split, her mentor claimed he would be working on a job and that she should enjoy herself while he was away. His form shimmered and a red fox stood where he had been only a moment before, the fox nodded to her and ran off.

She never saw him alive again.

* * *

Sakura woke with a start. She was sleeping in a room in the gold light district of Malfeas. She had turned down all the free prostitutes she had been offered as all she had wanted to do was sleep.

But that dream...

Her Coadjutor stepped in "It was memories."

Sakura frowned getting ready to leave to head to her townhouse in the Conventicle Malfeasant "A memory? I've never seen that situation."

"Not yours," her Coadjutor clarified "Exaltation shards carry the memories of their hose, effectively a backup in case anything goes wrong. Normally they are cleaned between hosts but the Ebon Dragon chose not to clean them so the Infernal Exalts could make use of their first age knowledge. The only cleaning that is done is between incarnations of the infernals. You will have memories of the first age but none of Black Moon Walker, get it?"

Sakura nodded and left the 'Love' Hotel. She followed the directions of her Coadjutor towards the Conventicle Malfeasant but suddenly her Coadjutor stopped before mentally pointing to a brass mirror nearby. Sakura saw a reflection of the city in it but her own reflection was waving at her.

She approached the mirror, seeing her own reflection closer she could see her reflection had eyes that were spheres of silver. Her coadjutor filled her in "It is Kagami, the city of mirrors, Fetich soul of the Yozi Szoreny."

Sakura looked shocked but after a moment she curtsied, her reflection in the mirror matched her exactly but with a knowing smile. They reached a hand out of the surface of the mirror, at her coadjutor's insistence Sakura grabbed hold and almost screamed as she was pulled bodily into the mirror.

* * *

In the mirror the world was subtly diffrent, Larger side streets, the windows reflected more light than they let through and sometimes demons moves straight through each other as if illusions.

Her reflection, Kagami, smiled and pulled her up "Well that was interesting. To be fair I thought you would scream."

"I was concidering it." Sakura replied tautly before going quiet as she hadn't wanted to say it.

"Don't worry, I'm just here to give you an order." The reflection spoke "Lord Szoreny invites you to his forest and expects you today."

Sakura heard her coadjutor gasp in surprise but she asked "Why would a Yozi that I don't have any relation too want to speak to me?"

Kagami smiled "Good question! Now off you go." He/She smiled and shoved her back out of the mirror.

* * *

"Well that was rude." Sakura spoke as her Coadjutor changed direction to lead her to Szoreny.

"Well he does rule over the mirror of Malfeas. A world of a similar scale to a yozi would be stressful to run even if it was your body."

Sakura nodded "Fair but still, why did he even need to pull me in if he was going to push me out a few moments later?"

"He did change what layer we were on," her coadjutor spoke "Previously we were on a layer closer to the heart of Malfeas, we were moved to the layer where Szoreny stays."

Sakura looked around and admitted "I can't tell the difference."

"It's fine, we are almost there by the way. Look to your left?" Her Coadjutor informed her.

She did and saw what looked like a forest without any leaves. The wood of the forest was pure silver that seemed to reflect all the sights of Malfeas within them.

"Well," Sakura forced herself to smile "time to meet another being that helped create the world."

* * *

End of chapter

In the first draft an event I plan for later in this arc also occured here but I put it off because I wanted to get the memory of the past and the invitation from Kagami done quickly.

The next chapter with Sakura has been on my mind (and it's rough outline on the planning document) since the start of the fanfic.

Side note: While this chapter was the first memory from her first age self it didn't really have any clues on the identity of Sakura's first age incarnation. When I start giving more clues I want to make a game of readers guessing who it is.


	74. Chapter 65

Mirrors of silver

* * *

As Sakura walked towards the forest, her Coadjutor told her of the story of Szoreny.

"He has always been a tree, but in the past he was the other way up. What you are seeing are his roots. Before he became a Yozi he shaped time, separating Now from Then. He also had a role in designing the loom of fates. It could be said that he engineered the ability for someone to change their fate."

Sakura looked at what she now knew were roots. She had gotten to the clear entrance to the forest, a place where the trees grew thinner. She watched her reflection in the trees, due to their shapes they twisted the reflection like funhouse mirrors, Those on the left made her shorter while those on the right made her taller.

As she stepped below the arch of the trees she murmured "So he's important then?"

Her Coadjutor spoke quickly "Pay attention, this place has been known to kill the unwary." Sakura looked around quickly. All she saw were trees that warped her image.

As she continued walking and looking around her Coadjutor finally answered her question "Yes, in terms of the Yozi he is very important, but he declined to join the Reclamation so supposedly the other Yozi don't trust him."

"He declined?" Sakura parroted so her Coadjutor gave a mental nod "No one knows why, one of his allied Yozi did the same but at least in that case it's because he found the idea of sneaking around to escape to be boring."

* * *

As they walked, Sakura saw that her reflections had begun to distort in impossible ways. She was currently not disguised so she had white hair but in at least three of the reflections she saw purple hair. There were other strange things too like facial expression, right now Sakura was controlling her face but some of her reflections had manic smiles or seemed to be despairing. One particularly creepy one was one with purple hair, she had a serene expression and wore Sakura's old clothes, ones she had left back in 'her world' yet those clothes were covered in blood.

She looked closer at that reflection only for it to nod to her knowingly. She fell back in surprise but the reflection still stood and smiled down at her. When she stood again the reflection looked like it took a step closer and it pushed it's hand against 'her' side of the mirror. After a moment as if stepping through a curtain of water 'she' stepped forward and gave a curtsy before speaking in her own voice "Please follow me to your meeting."

Sakura gave a moment for her Coadjutor to suggest what she should do but it just gave a mental shrug "I don't know, I expect this is a creation of the silver forest. A reflection given form. If so then she is controlled by the silver forest. If so it is safe to follow it, at least somewhat."

Sakura nodded "Lead on." and her reflection let out a little giggle.

As they walked deeper, her reflections warped more and more.

She saw a reflection with Rin's hair colour, maybe that could have been her if Rin had been sent to the Matou instead of her. That reflection looked happy.

She saw a reflection that was a corpse covered in crest worm, could that have been what would have happened if Shirou had never saved her?

She saw a reflection that had longer and still purple hair wearing a long girls school uniform she had never seen before, her eyes in the reflection were red and empty and she carried some sort of cane like that used by the blind to see. She honestly had no idea where that image came from. Maybe it would have happened if she ended up blinded by one of the experiments done on her?

Many more reflections appeared.

One showed her as a Solar like Shirou, she looked powerful and able to protect him properly. She could never be like that now.

One showed her as a walking corpse, a symbol like a bloody mirror of the solars glowed on her head and she seemed to be carrying a spear of a black metal. Another possiblity for evil then? Truely was she cursed to always oppose those she loved.

One didn't look any diffrent from her at first glance but she understood as the reflection failed to blink yet it still moved to reflect her, that version of her had no soul. How it had happened Sakura didn't know but it scared her.

Eventually her guide stopped at a clearing with a pool of what looked like mercury (Her Coadjutor made a note that the metal called mercury was generally known as quicksilver, as there was a goddess called Mercury).

Her reflection turned to her "Now wait here for a bit." As she said that, Sakura realised she was looking at an image in a reflection again.

Sakura waited.

Eventually a voice echoed out of the trees around her "What think you of my garden?"

It was as if the forest itself was talking. Sakura just shook her head "That isn't why you called for me."

The voice answered calmly "No, but answer the question."

Sakura sighed "It scares me, I could have been so much better than I am."

"And she said it!" The forest spoke again, and Sakura could swear that there was applause coming from somewhere in the forest.

Sakura sighed but the forest spoke again "So what are your thoughts on some of them in particular, how about this one?"

Suddenly all the trees reflected the image of her that had remained with the Tohsaka family instead of Rin.

Sakura took a breath "It would have been better than the life I led. I would have been happy. My father would likely have still died in the war but Kariya likely would not have joined the war. I heard he joined it for my sake."

Something inside her twisted and she continued "In addition, Rin would have been forced to go through the pain instead of me, she would be the dirty and unclean one and I might have Shirou just to myself."

Her reflections around the clearing all raised an eyebrow (Not all the same one) and the forest spoke "Not the most loving sister are you? I guess that is Kimbery's curse though."

The reflections all changed to her as a Solar. The forest waited expectantly so Sakura spoke "I wish I could have been like that, I could have protected Shirou."

"Ah, but," the forest began "In this one you swapped roles with Shirou, he is the infernal and you the solar."

Sakura's face stiffened "I would happily follow him here, as he should of."

A laugh echoed around the forest "It seems like you are just not a nice person. Very well then."

The reflections changed again, though at first she couldn't tell how they were warped, they all looked just like her. When she payed attention to the faces though it clicked. They were all infernals but they were fine with it. They didn't hate what they were.

Sakura was silent, she couldn't accept that. She would never accept being a monster that could hurt Shirou. That is what it seemed all her reflections had done though.

She turned and the forest spoke out "Leaving are you?"

Sakura walked quickly and answered "If you are just going to play games with me, making me see the other options I will just leave. I'm not a monster."

At that the forest went quiet and Sakura left in a hurry. Her Coadjutor was silent at first but eventually spoke "He never said what he actually wanted to talk about."

* * *

Deep in the forest a new man appeared, dressed in a suit so black it seemed to be devouring the light. On his face was an expression of complete pride as if there was nothing he couldn't do if he wanted to. His reflections in the mirrors appeared to just be him with no diffrences which any scholar would have told you was impossible.

"It seems you failed to get her then?" The man spoke to the forest "I thought you said you needed her for your plan?"

The forest shook and the voice spoke "I do need her but as she is now she still is suffering from the after affects of Kimbery's torment. I need her ready to face what she is before she is useful."

The man arched an eyebrow "And you think she will come back after you scared her off?"

The forest shook "She will come back, I know it. Before Calibration she will return. I personally believe she will come even earlier though, to use mortal time I would say she will only be a few weeks, a season at worst."

The man shrugged "I don't really care, I am still picking mine."

The forest chuckled "Either way, my spies tell me that her sister made it into the city just a few hours ago."

"And you didn't tell her?" The man inquired.

The forest laughed "Why would I do that, I need her sister after all."

* * *

End of chapter.

Unless I am mistaken, this chapter brings us to over 100,000 words. Great!

I have been planning something like this since I choose for Sakura to be turned into an infernal.

BTW, I put Fujino Asagami in as a reflection because Sakura was based off her. I am not implying they are the parallel versions of each other

If you have any questions feel free to ask.


	75. Chapter 66

Rule of strength

* * *

Rin had not really thought about what the demon city would look like. A massive sphere wasn't what she had expected but then nothing was.

On the outskirts of the sphere were several small collections of buildings, something like docks for ships. What sort of ships would sail a desert though? demonic engineered ships?

Her demons followed at a slight distance now that they were here. In the demon realm they were fully physical at all times so they were staying out of her way until she needed them.

She approached one dock that was futher away than it had first appeared (Taking an hour of travel time) and pulled herself up onto the strange metalic planks of the dock. Her demons followed after her.

They walked down the jetty to get to the main area of the dock and as she did she called Silber to her and asked "Will you be able to track her from here?" Silber shook it's head "As I have not encountered your sister before I will have to ask questions to begin the hunt. I could start asking those questions now but it would only give me a rough idea of where she was if they have even heard of her."

Rin closed her eyes to think before opening them and giving her orders "Go, ask your questions then return to me, we will be heading further in." Silber walked deeper into the dockyards leaving Rin with her other two demons.

The three of them walked towards a breach in the massive sphere that was the demon city proper but Rin's path was blocked by a trio of blood-apes.

The smartest looking one (Not saying much) walked forward before making a face that made it look even more ugly, Rin wondered if it was trying for an evil grin.

"Well hello there doll, you're coming with us." It's voice was grating and just as ugly as it's face.

Rin look annoyed and spoke clearly "Clear the way, you beasts should get out of my way." she then glanced around to look for her demons but noticed that they had backed off a way. Rubinrot was flying above them and Blutspucke was hiding ineffectively behind a crate.

The blood-ape leader's grin grew "Lost your allies? What a shame, guess you will be coming with us then. As you are the weaker party, the laws of the city demand you bow to our strength."

The two other blood-apes stepped forward, Rin raised her hands defensively but realised how much weaker she was in context. These were supernatural killing machines and apart from a charm that would make her hit harder she had no charms for martial combat. Instead when the demons reached for her she dodged back and began to cast Sting of the ice hornet. Due to that her caste mark burned bright for a moment and the blood-apes stopped for a moment in shock.

The shock gave me the moment she needed and the darts of ice speared the two blood-apes to the ground, after a moment though they started to rise to their feet.

Rin cursed and tried to think of ways she could put them down. Before long they were standing ready to attack again and they knew she was a lunar now. That wouldn't work as a distraction now.

It then hit her, the laws of the demon city. Rubinrot explained them as "The strong rule the weak." if that were the case then why was this fight three on one?

It was because she hadn't ordered her demons into battle. She looked at each of her demons in turn and yelled "Rubinrot, Blutspucke, enter battle."

The effect was instant. Blutspucke charged down towards them and intercepted an attack from one of the demons while Rubinrot dropped and landed on the other attacking it repeatedly with it's stinger.

Soon the two blood-apes had been destroyed and all that was left was the leader. He tried to back away only for Rin to fix her eyes on it "The strong rule, that is what you said. Then here is my order; destroy yourself or be destroyed."

The ape just ran. He ran deep into the city.

Rin and her demons followed it through the crack to see the city proper.

Spheres within spheres, continent sized islands in the sky all acting similar to a dyson sphere around a bright green sun whose light stung.

As they walked forwards it was like the world arounded them shifted, while they had walked in a straight line they were now walking around the interior of the sphere. Rubinrot told Rin of a place she could rest and eat (the food would not be normal but it would be a chance to eat without using the rations) so Rin had asked it to lead the way.

Rin was awed and horrified by the demon realm. They travelled along a road where each stone was either boiling hot or ice cold and then a few minutes later a road just wasn't there until Blutspucke cut himself and allowed the blood to touch the stones, at which point the road grew out. There were shops selling artifacts, a few selling eyeballs and there was a bar that claimed to have poisonous and highly acidic drinks.

The demons came in every shape too, little hopping puppets to large raven-like birds with four wings and three eyes. Another road they walked on was even a demon that Rubinrot said was one of Malfeas's second circle souls.

In the end they entered a 'Demonic inn' a spot of quality on a lower level of Malfeas according to Rubinrot. Rin didn't even eat then, she just wanted to sleep so Rubinrot and Blutspucke payed for a three demon room and gave Rin the key. She and Rubinrot then headed to the room.

The room was a warped version of normal. The beds looked normal but that was basically the only normal thing in the room. The painting on the wall could be summed up as blood, death and sex and the window looked out onto a battlefield.

A literal battlefield, were demons were still fighting to the death.

Either way, Rin was too tired for this so she lay down to sleep.

* * *

End of chapter

Rin is now in Malfeas, yay?

Next chapter is back to Shirou... maybe, depends how I feel.


	76. Chapter 67

Recruiting

* * *

Shirou looked at Chiaroscuro from a few miles away then turned his head slightly to see the large army camp that was set up just outside. Trin confirmed his thoughts "It probably is the legion that Lady Nereth asked you to wait for. Sneaking in could cause problems so heading for the Tepet guest house in Chiaroscuro would be best, they would likely pass the message to the legion."

They started walking again and were in Chiaroscuro before an hour had passed. They then headed for the guest house. Trin explained the situation to them and showed the proof he worked for the Tepet family and they were allowed to rest in the rooms.

"In all likelihood they won't call on us for a while. The news that we are here will take a while to move up the ranks." Trin spoke softly and Shirou nodded.

* * *

Trin was only partially right, if the Legion's information network were working properly it would take a while to find them. Fortunately or perhapse unfortunately, there was someone looking for them. At around the same time the red-piss legion set up outside Chiaroscuro, Nereth and Rai arrived in the same place.

Officially, Rai was there to take up a few months of life as a soldier in order to redeem him of a faux pas from a recent party (That Nereth asked him to perform intentionally) and Nereth was here to do some research on the Chiaroscuro undercity. The fact they came on the same ship was supposedly a trick of fate and not (as it was in truth) the act of sending two dragon-bloods out to meet with an asset.

Rai had been training with the legion while Nereth kept her ear to the ground looking for signs of Shirou, Trin and the anathema they had said that had joined up with.

When they came to the Tepet guest house she knew and headed there.

* * *

There was a knock at the door of the room that Trin and Shirou were staying in. Trin looked at Shirou before going to the door and opening it before stepping back in surprise and bowing deeply.

"Be calm Trin, it has only been a few weeks." Stepping through the door was Nereth Tepet. Shirou stood up and gave a short bow himself.

Nereth gave both of them an imperious yet kind smile before sitting on one of the rooms nicer chairs and speaking "So Shirou, do you still want to fight for us?"

Shirou nodded "For the same payment, permission to research in the Heptagram."

Nereth's smile grew "Good, I will bring you to the legion tomorrow. Do you know about the army's structure?"

At Shirou's head shake she continued "As an outsider that doesn't have the same training as the rest of the troops you would be considered part of the auxiliary, depending on your role however you might have a more support role. It depends on whether or not you are deemed suitable for combat."

She checked if Shirou was still following her before continuing "Assuming you were fielded you would be considered as a sorcerer due to your unique abilities. Units containing sorcerers are generally assigned the protection of their sorcerer and the sorcerer in question is treated as a higher rank than the rest of his unit. On the other hand as part of the support staff you would likely be assigned to the creation and repair of weapons for the troops. Less glamorous but far more important."

Shirou asked a question as she paused "Why can I not be part of support while marching and resting and a sorcerer during battles?"

Nereth replied simply "Rai could explain this better but it is army policy, you don't risk useful support staff in battle even if they are skilled. If they die you lose important support staff."

Shirou nodded and Nereth stood up while saying "That is probably enough for today, I will come by tomorrow." she nodded to them and left

* * *

End of chapter.

Yes I know it is short, I have been having trouble deciding what would go into this chapter. A mini-writers block if you will.

Fun fact; this lesson allowed Shirou to get some War skill, the exalted skill used for leading troops


	77. Chapter 68

Roseblack

* * *

The next day Nereth lead Shirou to the army camp outside of Chiaroscuro. Looking at it up close reminded Shirou of what he had heard about roman bases, the structure of the base was designed specifically to aid in it's defense. Nereth led Shirou to what he could only understand as a command tent and after signalling for him to stay outside for a bit she ducked into the tend.

Shirou couldn't hear anything going on inside the tent but slowly other people started leaving the tent, after about ten minutes a voice could clearly be heard from within the tent, it spoke in high realm but thanks to Shirou's old lessons that didn't really bother him "Enter."

He lifted the flap and walked in, withing were Nereth and Rai along with another woman who possessed red hair and green armour and an old man with grey hair. He didn't know the specifics but he suspected that the new two were both dragon-bloods as well. He bowed and when he straightened Nereth spoke to the woman "Cousin this is the man I told you about before, he can deal with any extra weapons we may need."

The woman, A Tepet clearly, looked him up and down before asking "And what source does his ability use, you said he was not a Dragon-blood nor an Anathema. He doesn't bare the markings of being God-blooded and his body looks too fit to be a mortal who researched sorcery in order to create an original spell."

Rai shook his head "We don't know, we never got it out of him." Nereth then spoke "He told me only that he can shape his essense into weapons, how he did that is impossible to explain."

The woman looked at Shirou "Well, do you have anything to add?"

Shirou shook his head but now he knew more of the world he could offer a better analogy "Think of it like natural sorcery, some mix of sorcery and natural talent." A moment passed before he added "My lady?" He didn't know if it was the right address but without anything it felt rude.

The woman considered his words before asking for a demonstration, Shirou made sure to project the sword so he wouldn't run into errors in the tracing process. It was a simple sword, just a steel blade and a normal handle. The woman examined the blade before asking "And how long do they last?"

Shirou considered the answer "Depends on the quality, this sort of blade would likely exist for about 90 minutes. One of the higher quality blades might only last somewhere between five and 15 minutes."

The woman thought for a moment before asking a question Shirou had been worried about "And your finer blades? Show me."

He winced and answered honsestly "Recently the process, the spell in other words, that I use to make my Higher quality blades was... damaged somehow. In the current state they cannot be used as weapons."

Nereth looked at him sharply "When did this happen?" Shirou answered by explaining (Though not in it's entirety of course) the encounter with the Lunars in the desert.

"Sometime around then it got damaged and I can't use them properly."

Rai spat out somethig like "Those barbarians." Nereth and the woman looked annoyed but the old man who hadn't yet spoken continued observing him.

"Well then," The woman decided "If you do want to join us you would likely be better as a support as of now. Until you have reclaimed your full power you won't be much help on a battlefield. You do know how to perform the blacksmithing an army would need?"

Shirou nodded so the woman sighed "Nereth, you think he would be good?"

Nereth answered quietly "Yes, if he recovers his quality weapons he would be a great addition."

The woman stood stiff and spoke "Shirou Emiya I hereby recruit you into the red-piss legion, by my name of Tepet Ejava, the Roseblack, you are now a part of my force, do me proud to have chosen you."

A moment passed before she sighed "You don't even have the proper equipment, I'll have some sent to you." She then called in an officer and asked them to lead Shirou to the support workshops.

* * *

End of chapter

Yes it is short. The Shirou chapters around here never had much in the planning notes. It is that annoying area where they need to happen for the story to progress but you can't fill them out.

Either way next time should be Rin/Sakura.


	78. Chapter 69

Knowledge is power

* * *

Sakura awoke in her room within the mansion she now owned. The mansion in the Conventicle Malfeasant was actually fairly nice, she now realised. When you compared it to things like the hotel rooms of Malfeas, the mansions of the green sun princes were not only opulent but actually designed for human occupation. The serving staff was a bonus too as it was another group she could ask to do things. Last night for example (as much as night exists in hell) she had asked them to find food fit for human consumption, they were expensive but it was well worth waking up to normal rice and something similar to miso.

After she had finished eating she sat in the mansion's "Plotting" room. Made by the previous inhabitant the room was darkly decorated, it had a fire place containing green flames and a table upon which was maps of all kinds. It was, as the name might hint at, a room for plotting evil plans. Sakura considered what she needed to do to obtain Shirou.

She needed to be stronger, physically stronger would help her take him by force, mentally stronger might allow her to create better plans, socially stronger would allow her to just order Shirou to come with her.

She would first become wiser she decided, that would mean she would need to find a place of education. She asked her Coadjutor "Where could I go to learn many things?"

Her Coadjutor responded after a moment of pause "The crystal libraries of lord Orabilis would work," When Sakura didn't speak the Coadjutor went on "He creates libraries from rains of glass, within them you can find tomes and scrolls on possibly every subject that exist. Normally the risk is that you might learn too much and lord Orabilis would destroy you but as a Fiend infernal you are immune to the laws of hell."

Sakura nodded thoughtfully before asking "And where is the nearest library?" Her Coadjutor gave a mental shrug "I never went to one and never cared to, thus I don't remember where any are.

Sakura nodded and went instead to her staff to ask that question. An Akuma dragon-blood knew the answer "My lady, there is one that can be reached in about half a day."

Sakura god the woman to explain the exact course before leaving and riding on Wondrous Hate to the gate out of the Conventicle Malfeasant, after leaving she followed the route her servant had explained.

* * *

Little did she know she was watched leave by Silber, who had managed to track her all the way here but couldn't enter himself. He watched for a bit longer before starting the journey back to Rin.

* * *

Sakura was travelling for quite a long time but eventually she reached the glass library and entered. She searched for scrolls and tomes on a wide variety of subjects. Some were asking about specific species of demons, some were about the Yozi and their natures and some were about the Exalted.

As she read about the nature of the Yozi she felt eyes on her, she looked up to see three orbs of glass floated around her, each was an eye that stared at her. The eyes of Orabilis then? They were something like scouts for the end of wisdom who watched out for those breaking the laws. She flared her caste mark for a moment and the eyes moved on. The fiend caste was designed to ignore rules and so only the Ebon Dragon himself was allowed to punish them.

She found many an interesting passage that she could use to become stronger, most of which were ideas of the charms some of the other Yozi could teach her. Those who were not in the Reclamation. Metagaos the All-Hunger Blossom was near the top of that list, how would she go about claiming its charms though?

She could always look for it in person but that was dangerous beyond all else, Metagaos was a Yozi that ate and nothing else. It consumed all including concepts, It could eat noise and then the silence leaving nothing but a buzzing hum. Quiet possibly it could then eat that buzz as well. It could eat a hole, it could eat someone's ability to travel anywhere but closer to it, it could eat minds and souls.

The charms it might teach would be incredible. Kimbery would likely wish I learn more of her charms but Sakura didn't see them as very useful as most of them required a body of water. The Ebon Dragon's charms would be useful however so Sakura added to her list of ways to grow stronger.

So The Ebon Dragon and Metagaos. The charms of the former might actually help her learn Metagaos's charms safely.

Either way there were other things she learned, she learned more about Solars and Lunars so she would be ready. She took notes on sorcery she might want to learn. She stole a device that acted as a simple map of Malfeas.

She left and returned to the mansion while thinking about how she would go about getting Metagaos to teach her it's charms.

* * *

Rin heard the report from Silber and headed off, she now knew where her sister was staying. She would wait there and try to talk to her when she was next there.

* * *

End of chapter

Slightly shorter than the normal 1000 words. I can only say; because I am lazy I didn't want to write any more today.

Either way Sakura gained a dot of lore for her research today.

Regardless I will answer any questions about this story that you want to ask.

Also Hah, uploaded on the wrong day, oops ;p


	79. Chapter 70

Getting stronger

* * *

Sakura lay in bed thinking. She needed to get stronger before going to learn Metagaos's charms, if she wasn't strong enough he would simply eat her and that would be it. The issue was that most of her combat abilities were fairly weak.

She wasn't much stronger than a normal human and her spear-skills were on par with a beginner. She was decent with a bow but that alone wouldn't help her. Her charms were not particularly useful for combat either; from Kimbery she had gained a charm that allows her to better fight groups.

Neither her Endless desert charms or Ebon dragon charms have much use in combat. One Ebon dragon charm had brought her into sorcery (Without even a trial) but without any sorcery to work with it wouldn't be much use. "Protection from being consumed" Isn't really a thing sorcery does, it is more of a charm.

"Maybe you are thinking about it the wrong way?" Her Coadjutor suggested "Something like; Affirmation of self? the sort of charm used to resist the Wyld's corrupting effect."

Sakura nodded "Assuming he feeds by shaping away a victim's traits it would work... But do the green sun princess even have a charm like that?"

Her Coadjutor thought for a few minutes as Sakura looked through a scroll she had taken with her from the library, it was called "On the nature of the passive Yozi" It had been written by a demonic scholar from creation over a thousand years ago during the first age. Why Orabilis kept a copy in the library was a good question.

It was an analysis on the Yozi that didn't actively... Do anything? Metagaos was included so it was useful. The scholar had likely been an Exalted, probably a Solar or a Sidereal so it was an outsider's perspective. "To understand a Yozi you must understand that they are the ultimate spirit. Elementals, Gods and Demons are made almost entirely of essence and so are spiritual in nature. Yozi are actually closer related to Raksha rather than any other type of creation's spirits. They are living collections of charms, like the Raksha whereas most other spirits instead possess charms. This means that Yozi are shaping their bodies (and any other features they possess) using their charms almost all the time."

Sakura had seen what it was getting at; if they were basically living shaping effects then Metagaos was likely doing something similar to the Raksha when it ate. However when Raksha ate the soul and left a husk, Metagaos ate it all; he ate the essence patterns that allowed the target to exist as they are. It was like the Makiri magecraft, grafting from others onto oneself.

"Found it." Her Coadjutor reported in after a search through the lists prepared for them by the leaders of the Reclamation (Or more likely some of their souls). The lists contained most charms that a GSP would be able to learn from them. The lists were kept by the Coadjutors as the Yozi didn't want to give what amounted to a document that showed their true forms as masses of charms.

"Purity Of Madness Defense, requires By Pain Reforged. Basically it allows you to resist shaping at the cost of drawing your limit closer."

Sakura cursed at the cost "Why do they make a useful charm have that sort of cost?"

Her Coadjutor gave a mental shrug "No clue, either way this would get you a foot in the door with Malfean charms."

Sakura nodded "I will learn it however I need to be stronger in other ways too, I am too weak right now to fight with most demons. That needs to change."

"Honestly why not just ask your staff if any of them could teach you." Her Coadjutor made a point.

* * *

"Mistress?" The head maid was a little confused as the new mistress rarely talked to them.

"Who in my staff could help train me to become stronger?" The mistress asked. The head maids eyes twiched as the binding around her soul forced her complete answer.

"Including me, on your staff you have three Dragon-blood Akuma, I and one other were trained in terrestrial martial arts. If all you want is to become stronger in combat you would be best served by asking us to teach you."

Sakura nodded "When can we start?"

The Head Maid would have sighed if she had enough control of her soul for that, instead she answered truthfully "As long as it takes me and the other servants to prepare a Dojo."

* * *

Sakura knelt on the ground in seiza as the maid raised a finger. "If you wish to go through with this mistress allow me to inform you that while learning you must follow my direction. However I am bound to follow your orders, so to make this work you must release me from my obligation for as long as I am teaching you. This restriction must be set in such a way as to make me unable to betray you."

Sakura nodded "Okay, as long as you are teaching me martial arts you will be given enough freedom to teach me, however you may never intend to do permanent damage to me."

The head maid tilted her head as if feeling for something in her neck before nodding "Very well then. I understand your chosen weapon is a spear?"

Sakura nodded and called out her black spear from her shadow. The head maid nodded once "Very well, I shall then teach you Five-Dragon Style. A basic terrestrial martial arts. After that we will see."

The head maid took down a pair of wooden spears from hooks on the wall of the newly created dojo and threw one to Sakura before speaking "First I must know how strong you already are, we fight until one of us gives up."

The two squared off before the head maid spoke firmly "Begin."

* * *

End of chapter.

Sakura is practicing in general.

I resently checked my stat sheets for the three characters and realised that none of them really have combat charms, they just win because everyone else sucks (Or in Shirou's case UBW allowed him to balance the playing field)

Fun facts for those who don't know exalted; Five-Dragon style was created by the Immaculate order and yet here it is being taught by a fallen Dragon-blood to a princess of hell. They never designed any form of protection for it and it gets taught to quiet a few dragon-blood (A few never even became monks, they just learned from family).

OC Notes; As I basically create new exalted whenever the plot needs them and then never fill them out. So here is a quick description of Head Maid. She looks young but is actually really old, she was already over 100 when she sold her soul to the Ebon Dragon for eternal youth. She is now somewhere around 700-ish. In that time she has barely grown at all. She might have wished to live forever but with no growth she stagnated. She is a 1 dot mentor that Sakura just picked up, she can teach all of the Five-dragon style along with one or two other styles but never learned celestial martial arts. She is an earth dragon-blood but her blood runs fairly thin.

If you guys want me to write anything like this for any other OC that I pull out of my ass, feel free to ask.


	80. Chapter 71

A new job

* * *

Cloaked blessing waited at Yu-shan gate 53 for the 'Partner' she had been informed this mission would be with. Gate 53 led to the city of Paragon and while that was not their destination it would cause less of a fuss than gate 54. Gate 54 led into Grandmother Bright's neighborhood and avoiding her would likely save time in the long run. At least there was less chance of her getting angry and posting a complaint which, due to her power, would likely end up with her getting a salery cut.

She was actually thankful that the mission briefing specified this gate then. She unfurled the orders and read them again.

"To: Cloaked Blessing,

From: Office of Ayesha Ura, Division of Journeys, Chair of the Convention on Essence Wielders

You are directed to meet up with a partner, the sidereal 'Soaring Star' to continue your investigation into the exalt known as 'Shirou Emiya'"

There was more to the orders of course, but she was slightly annoyed that she had been chosen for this mission. First because her vacation time was meant to be private time. Her report had been written then of course so they could have seen what she was doing but she would rather this job be given to someone else. In addition she was fairly sure she was being dragged into faction politics. Almost everyone knew Ayesha Ura for one of her other titles; Leader of the golden faction.

She was neutral, she tried very hard to stay that way. Sure she would do favours for the bronze faction but to be fair they payed well and had enough evidence on her to censure her badly.

"Hello?" she heard a voice behind her as she was deep in thought and spun quickly. It was a woman in a strange hat. The woman was dressed richly and her voice had a pleasing quality but something about her rubbed Cloaked Blessing the wrong way. The woman raised her hand to shake while speaking "I am Soaring Star, division of endings. It is good to meet you."

Cloaked blessing nodded and introduced herself.

Soaring Star tilted her head and spoke "Do you have a resplendent destiny for the mission? I have spares if you want?"

Cloaked blessing didn't want anything this woman made so she shook her head "I'll use one formed from the gull."

Soaring star looked confused "The gull? For infiltrating an army?"

Cloaked Blessing shuffled uncomfortably "Okay, it's not perfect but-"

The stranger's hand reaches out to touch her and Cloaked blessing had the feeling of a new reslendent destiny being added to her stock.

Soaring star smiled "My spair spear destiny, with it you are a low ranking soldier called margaret."

She didn't know what to say, this was an excellent quality destiny and it had been given to her freely. There would be a cost she reasoned it wouldn't be that easy.

* * *

Neither of them had yet put on a destiny yet they quickly travelled through the gate, ending up in the middle of the Paragon's palace. They just sneaked outside, if any guards did see them they would soon be forgotten. They were not wearing destinies so no name or face could be attached to them by normal humans.

After checking that none of the horses were needed for important fates in the near future, they stole a pair from the city stables and headed off towards Chiaroscuro.

It was only two hours after leaving Yu-shan that Cloaked blessing asked her question "Why?"

"Why what?" was the only response.

"Why did you give me such a good quality destiny. Surely if you can craft this then you would have lower quality destinies that could have served the same end?"

Soaring star thought for a moment before speaking "An answer for an answer then."

"Deal" Cloaked blessing agreed quickly.

"I gave it to you for two reasons, first was that it was part of my orders from the gold faction to make sure you are supplied properly, second was because, well," She paused for a moment before finishing the answer "I am a bit of an expert with weaving resplendent destiny, I like it when people complement my work."

There was a pause before she continued in a much lighter voice "Regardless, my question for you; Is it true you are on six different committees?"

Cloaked Blessing scowled "Four, only two by choice."

Soaring star raised an eyebrow "Four? How have you not gotten censured yet?"

"I do my paperwork, I never aspire to much in most of them and I do what I am told." Cloaked blessing's voice was clear but without feeling, her face was still angry however.

"Incredible, I guess that is why the bronze faction had such a hold of you." As Soaring star spoke, Cloaked blessing blinked and realised what she had just told to an admitted member of the gold faction.

"Oh Jupiter." She cursed by the maiden of secrets. All Soaring star did was laugh.

After another hour of riding Soaring star spoke again "If you are worried about censure, just join the gold faction, we'll keep you safe."

Cloaked blessing didn't respond but her emotions were twisted in knots. She wanted to stay neutral, the factions were too big for her to understand properly. She liked just doing the little things.

It seemed however that no-one like neutral sidereals, she kept being placed on various unimportant committees. She was barely able to do her paperwork on the best of days and more just kept coming. Even more if she was away from Yu-shan, this little mission would likely put her a few weeks behind. The paperwork had only gotten this bad after the holiday where she investigated Shirou. Had she annoyed someone somehow with that?

She sighed and hoped that Soaring Star would leave her alone when they went to do their separate missions.

* * *

End of chapter.

Yes a cloaked blessing chapter again, after all this time.

And Yu-shan politics. Also committee is a wierd word and one I have never had to use before so if I misused it, I am sorry. (Edit; Changed committee to plural as corrected by a review)

Soaring star is meant to be the Sidereal who appears in the final comic of the Sidereal book. I couldn't find a name or even a description of their abilities so I made a character from them.


	81. Mini chapter 2, Dreams

Dreams

* * *

Shirou Dreamed.

He sat beside Kiritsugu looking up at a bright moon. The dream followed it's pattern at first before shifting suddenly.

He dreamed of the time he learned Saber's name, the light that consumed the dark sky. Sakura never told him how Rider had survived that.

He dreamed of archer's betrayal and then how they had fought before Rin created a new contract with Saber.

He dreamed of Sakura and how he freed her from the darkness of the grail.

His dreams then shifted again, showing new things.

He dreamed he stood atop a great hill, watching a beast that defied logic.

He dreamed of creating a weapon, the weapon, greater than any other.

He dreamed of a banquet, he had someone he loved beside him.

He dreamed of holding back foes so that his love might escape.

In the end, his dreams faded back into the darkness of his sleeping mind.

* * *

Rin Dreamed.

She dreamed of the last time she saw her father.

She dreamed of the priest's training.

She dreamed of her meeting with archer, her meeting with lancer and her meeting with saber.

She dreamed of her fight with Shirou.

She dreamed of lancer offering help after archer betrayed her.

She dreamed of Sakura and her shadow, how Illya had ordered berserker to destroy it.

She dreamed of the jewel sword.

Her dreams then changed, showing things she didn't know.

She dreamed of met the person closest to her heart, the Wyld ate at her but he came in and found her.

She dreamed of walking through a twisted maze, the darkness intent of consuming her.

She dreamed she stood beside her love at a great party, watching him closely for any negative thoughts.

She dreamed of running for her life, swearing revenge.

She dreamed of the assassins catching her.

In the end her dreams faded back into the darkness of her sleeping mind.

* * *

Sakura dreamed.

Her soul dreamed stronger.

"A party?" She asked in the dream.

Across the table was an up-and-coming star, everyone talked about them so she was in enough shock as was that they were talking to someone like her. The Solar nodded and spoke "I heard you don't go to many events so I am inviting you in person."

The reason she didn't go to events was simple dislike, she enjoyed the simple life. The kind she had before her Exaltation. While she was a good talker she didn't like the complexity of social maneuvering in the Exalted scenes.

It seemed however that this Solar had other ideas "Come on now, you are an eclipse. Parties are meant to be your thing. Enjoy it."

She shook her head "I wouldn't be able to, they are very stressful to me."

The solar frowned almost imperceptibly and she could sharply feel his disappointment. "Please reconsider, you would likely be one of the most lovely people there." The solar tried appealing to vanity? an odd choice.

But something in his words struck her. She was beautiful and wasn't she always talking about an Exalt's duty.

The solar spoke "Isn't it your duty, you are blessed with looks that you didn't even need charms for, isn't it your duty to display it for all to see?"

To her, the words twisted in and became almost like an order.

She would go to the party.

She dreamed of the party, dreamed of the solar's attempt to get her to love him. Charms designed to bend her will.

In the end her young Lunar mate had saved her. He had brought what the man was trying to do to the attention of the rest of the party.

The solar was put on trial, in the end he was given a job on the very end of creation where she would likely never see him again.

Yet the things he had told her still remained with her. "Seek out pleasure." first among them.

At the start it wouldn't cause much trouble but it would one day become her doom.

* * *

End of Minichapter.

I was lazy and I am having trouble thinking of a plotline for Shirou to follow (as he is just waiting in the camp for a few days/weeks before they set off for the blessed isle, I want him to do something but I can't think of something for him to do, if anyone has a suggestion for what interesting thing he could be doing go ahead. Otherwise I will be writing a few more Malfeas chapters for the future.)

Either way, dreams.

For Shirou I am just showing the fused route and then his life in the first age.

For Rin it is much of the same.

But Sakura is continuing down the dark dreams from the first age. Sakura's first age counterpart was much older than Shirou's or Rin's was before their deaths.

Also, this acts as another clue for who Sakura's first age counterpart was.


	82. Chapter 72

A challenge

* * *

Rin waited at the exit that Sakura had last used from this building, Her demons hadn't been able to tell her much about it as it had only be recently built. All she had been able to get out of them was it's name (The Conventicle Malfeasant) and that only certain people were allowed in.

As Rubinrot had described it "It is like a special town that are only for the master's secret weapons." If Sakura was in there then she much have been one of these secret weapons too.

Her plan was; Wait for Sakura to show herself, try and remind her of their sibling bond, if that didn't work then battle her and take her back to Shirou. Even if she couldn't help her, Shirou could almost certainly help.

She looked up towards a nearby roof where Silber was keeping an eye on other exits. He gave her the all clear so she moved on.

Rubinrot was with her just in case she needed to move quickly and Blutspucke waited nearer the gates. He wasn't very stealthy so Rin had decided to have him act as a distraction when and if she needed it.

Sakura had never been the best close quarters fighter so Rin knew if it came to a fight then she would need to get close. A distraction was useful for that sort of thing.

* * *

After a while of waiting, impossible to know how long due to Malfeas' strange time, Rin felt something was wrong and looked to the mouth that acted as the door. It was in it's cycle so someone was coming out. She was on high alert while peering forward, hoping for it to be Sakura.

The door finished it's cycle. No matter how much Sakura changed, Rin wouldn't mistake her.

Sakura, with bleached white hair and a barely visible green pallor to her skin, walked out of the door. She was followed by what appeared to be a maid. The maid appeared to be carrying a near-empty bag of something.

Rin waited for her to make her way further away from the door before standing up straight and walking out to see her.

When Sakura saw her she stood, frozen in place. The maid whispered something to Sakura who finally turned to respond. Rin was unable to hear what was said but it was likely about her.

Rin continued to approach only to stop when Sakura pulled a spear out of her shadow and pointed it directly at Rin. "Be gone, I don't care if you are really her or not, be gone or be destroyed."

Rin opened her arms "Please Sakura, if not for me then for Shirou." If she needed to use his name to bring her back she wasn't afraid of it.

At this Sakura pounced with the spear out front "Don't you dare speak his name! You Witch!"

Rin redirected the spear away from her heart to just slicing her skin. While the self defense training she had was good it seemed that Sakura had been training as well. Rin cried out in pain and backpedaled to a slightly safer distance.

Sakura's maid looked between the two of them before asking Sakura "Should I take care of this, my lady?"

The response from Sakura was a quick "No! She is mine!"

The spear came forward again, this time with two quick stabs. Rin wasn't able to dodge fast enough so she ended up shoving the first one away only to take the second in the shoulder.

Rin decided that she didn't have another choice "My demons; Aid me!"

A clatter of noise as Blutspucke charged forward, Rubinrot joined her and lowered herself to be mountable while Silber charged the maid.

As Rin mounted Rubinrot, Sakura's spear shot forward, three times now, at Blutspucke. Blutspucke simply laughed before dodging the first and parrying the next two leaving Sakura open. Rin had miscalculated however, not about Sakura but her own demons.

Nothing could stop a blood ape from killing and consuming the blood of their enemies.

The demon's arm came down in a blow designed to break Sakura's skull, Rin cried out and ordered Rubinrot to bring her to the fight.

She barely made it in time. Blutspucke's arm crashed against Rubinrot's chitinous body. It sent Rin and Rubinrot's bodies flying but it gave Sakura time to make it away to her maid who was putting up a relatively matched fight against Silber.

Rin gave the command then "We are falling back." All her demons heard and understood.

* * *

Sakura watched her twice-sister retreat, It seemed she was still not strong enough. She hadn't trained nearly as much as she should have. She had charms to learn and martial arts to practice. Next time they met she would pierce Rin's heart and brain.

Her maid gathered any dropped belongings and Sakura decided they should go to the library another day.

* * *

Rin wondered how to punish a demon for following their nature. That had really been all Blutspucke was doing, following his nature of killing.

She did need to punish him though. He disobeyed her order and their would be a reckoning for that.

* * *

End of chapter.

A little short.

What Sakura means by "Twice-sister" they were once sisters before sakura was sold away, they were sisters again after Shirou saved her, now however they are not.

Also; While Sakura did grow stronger, she still isn't that strong compared to supernatural stuff.

Everything below is just me complaining about how hard Shirou is for me to write for right now.

Still can't think of good plotlines for Shirou right now. What could I have him do that wasn't just banal.

"Go save a town from [insert villain here] because he is a good person" Banal

As I mentioned previously I have a plot ready when he gets to the blessed isle but the army isn't yet ready to move.

The best case scenario would be something like "Shirou learns to use his new powers" but I can't currently think of a plot that would allow that.


	83. Chapter 73

The new plan

* * *

Rin sat on a bench in a park. It was not a nice park but Rin doubted there was a nice park anywhere in Malfeas.

Her exalted Healing was repairing the injury from Sakura's spear. While she sat and healed she plotted.

Her demons were all keeping an eye on the area around them to guard Rin while she plotted.

Rin had figured out the two problems with her first assault; Sakura was a lot stronger than she used to be and she had an effectively impregnable base in the The Conventicle Malfeasant.

The first she reasoned could be overcome if she herself grew stronger in turn, the second was a more difficult issue.

The most simple idea would be to somehow call her out, but she was unlikely to fall for that. It would need to be something that Sakura couldn't ignore.

A challenge then? A test of some sort, with their lives on the line. Sakura wasn't prideful enough to fall for that on it's own.

She needed good enough bait for any trap, she herself would make the perfect bait based on what she knew of Sakura's current mental state.

Then a challenge that leaves a loophole that to Sakura would look like a chance to kill her. Something like...

* * *

Head maid brought Sakura the letter the following 'Day'. Sakura looked at the outside and saw it adressed to "Sakura Tohsaka, my foolish sister."

A spike of fury shot through her as she opened the letter "My sister, let us settle this with one conflict, we both gather what forces we can and we have them clash to decide a victor. Both of us are the kings of our sides. If you agree we will clash at the end of the month. I wish for you to see the light but if I can't then I must defeat you.

Signed Rin Tohsaka"

Sakura crumpled the paper and was about to throw it before she stopped as some of the wording settled in. She smoothed the paper and read it again.

A game of chess, with Rin as a king?

In chess, if the king was out of position. If Rin intended to cheat there might be an issue but she could solve that quickly.

"Where did you get this?" She asked her maid

She bowed and spoke "My lady, it was as I was returning some scrolls to the library. Your opponent seems to have taken over a tenement block a few miles from here."

Sakura closed her eyes before they flashed open "Let us go then, to make sure that she doesn't cheat."

* * *

Rin sat on a chair that was not a throne. A throne would have been comfortable. This chair dug into her back.

Taking over the tenement block was not easy. She and her demons had been forced to gang up on the leader of the gang that used to run it.

She had no sorcerous bindings she could apply in Malfeas so she had been forced to simply scare the rest of the gang into obeying her orders. They resisted her and that would need to be rectified before the battle.

The door to the not-a-throneroom was opened suddenly as Sakura and her maid entered.

Rin lounged in her uncomfortable seat and smiled "Sister, I didn't expect you so soon." A lie but she had no doubt that Sakura would have seen that.

Sakura glared up at her "I am here about the terms for our battle."

Rin sat back up before looking at her "Very well, what needs to be made clear?" She didn't know what Sakura was doing here but her coming at all meant that she had fallen for the trap.

Sakura looked her dead in the eyes "Our allowed actions, we must swear to follow specific rules."

Rin looked on as Sakura outlined the oath "We two may not participate in the battle ourselves, we must send all forces we each own to fight, we may not bother any demons of a circle higher than first circle."

Rin listened to the oaths, the last was the hardest to agree to as one of her plans had been to get a second circle demon to agree to help but it was enough, the first two helped her own plans in a way even if the second was tricky to work around.

"I agree" Rin spoke those words and Sakura raised her hand "I sanctify this oath in the name of the Yozi." There was a strange feeling as if a cloud covered the sun but after a moment it was gone. Sakura didn't say anything more, she just turned and left.

After she and her maid were long gone Rin leaned back on the chair before standing up when it poked somewhere sensitive.

She smiled as her bound demons entered the room before declairing "We have won."

* * *

Elsewhere, back in the mansion that belonged to her, Sakura smiled. She wove her personal magic around her sworn oath, Cocooning it in shadow. Having done so the oath was locked. While Rin would be punished if she broke the oath, Sakura was in no danger of the same. Sakura could now break all three oaths at her leisure.

She smiled as the head maid brought her a meal. She glanced out the window and spoke with a smile "I have won."

* * *

End of chapter

At first the letter was longer but I lost that when the page refreshed at an unexpected moment.

Regardless; The book never says if Fiends can avoid punishment from their own oaths but I believe that they probably would be able to do that.

Next few chapters will be going back to Shirou so I apologise if they are boring as I still don't have a solid Idea of what he will be doing. Probably he will just be fixing his marble.


	84. Chapter 74

Weapons

* * *

The sound of the hammer striking the metal rang out as Shirou beat the sword into shape. He returned it to the heat before taking another rod of metal and hammering it out longer. After some time he allowed a waiting assistant to help with the other blade, both of them performing the required heat treating to make the swords resistant to breaking.

Minutes later both swords were ready to have their edges formed so he passed one of the swords to his assistant while taking the other himself. He and his assistant began grinding an edge into them.

After some more time, both blades were sharp. These were not to be fancy so all that was done was to attach the guard in a way that wouldn't break off.

He had been working at this for a few hours, his assistance switching out every few blades. He could make swords without them but they were also there to ensure he didn't sabotage anything while he was there. He still wasn't entirely trusted by most of the army.

Finally he agreed to take a break, the other craftsman watched him leave with a strange look of wariness and envy. Any one could create a high quality sword but Shirou was quickly creating swords of a decent quality.

They still were in awe of the first blade he made, all the craftsman had heard of Insulation coatings used in the quenching but they were of the mind that it wasn't often worth it as they were used to making double edge blades. Shirou on the other hand had made a wakizashi as a single edged blade.

It wasn't merely that he properly made a single edged blade but more that he created one of a high quality.

Either way, it was not the best sword. Shirou had seen weapons used by the army that were far better, in the end the wakizashi was just the piece used to prove his training to the other smiths.

He went outside to watch the setting sun and closed his eyes, A strange feeling had crossed him as he made those blades. They had placed themselves within his reality marble, mostly as nameless swords.

He checked around to see if he was being watched before holding out his hand.

He began to trace the wakizashi that was currently sitting in the weapon racks.

He knew innately it's creation so the process went smoothly until 'Sympathizing with the experience of its growth'.

He closed his eyes and simply remembered what the sword was. Made as a proof that he could make. Never yet wielded in combat but forged to make it a good sword.

He continued, only a few hours to reproduce. In a way the sword was still cooling, the last of the heat bleeding out.

Finally 'Excelling every manufacturing process' the blade was done. In his hand he held the sword. Somehow it felt 'right'.

He held it in his hand and swung it, cutting the air. It was fine. It didn't slip from his hand.

Was that it then? Could he only trace blades he had made himself? If that was it then his options were very limited.

He wondered at the state of his marble. While he was now meant to be some great king, his greatest asset was now flawed.

* * *

That night, as he slept, he dreamed of swords.

It wasn't a new dream, he had dreamed of swords many times before. The swords plunged themselves into the ground of what looked like a muddy hill.

There were many such muddy hill around him but in a dip in the ground between them was what looked like a metalworking shop. In his dream he wandered down to the forge to look inside. In a basket there was haematite in various sizes, in another were coals of various qualities. In both he could innately sense how good the quality of any individual piece was. The forge was unlit and empty of coals. On the wall was a collection of tools, everything needed to forge a weapon.

After looking around some more, his dream self left the metalworking shop to see the hills had been filled with swords, he almost knew them somehow but before he got a close enough look at any of them he looked up to see a great sun shine down on the hills. Something within him insisted that this would dry the mud and cause the world to become a cracked and ruined place. Instead, around the base of the metalworking shop, green began to poke from the ground. Just at the edges of this place but grass shot up.

The grass continued to grow around the metalworking shop but it only seemed able to grow within a few meters of the shop. He glanced around more and saw how a few swords had grass of their own. All the swords he had made today had maybe a few centimeters of grass around them.

Before the dream ended he heard a voice that shook the air "Shirou Emiya, creator of swords, thou have a new world to rule. The new world of you, having itself been reforged by my light."

Shirou would have asked questions about the voice but he could feel the world fading away.

* * *

In the morning he woke, and thought about his bladeworks. He sensed the change when it first occured but it still felt odd to him that his very soul could change so much without changing who he was.

All the blades are still there, none were lost. Surely if a blade couldn't be traced anymore it would be lost from the bladeworks. So that went to reason the old weapons could still be traced but it required a different method.

A method he would discover.

* * *

End of chapter.

So yes, Shirou's reality marble has changed. The next few chapters will be him trying to figure out how these new changes work before the army ships off to the blessed isle.

For those who don't think the reality marble should have changed (Either because it shouldn't be able to or because it would destroy Shirou) just think of it as divine intervention while he underwent his Exaltation.

And yes, the hill of swords is now mud instead of sand, living things seem to be able to grow there too.


	85. Chapter 75

Stories

* * *

Shirou struck the anvil, the metal he was forging flattened further.

Today the other craftsmen had given him a different task that what he was used to; defensive equipment, specifically shields.

He was being allowed to create any kind he want to test his skills but it was not in his nature to craft this sort of thing. Instead he was creating a gauntlet. Not merely a gauntlet made to be part of a suit of armour. This was to be an extra piece of equipment. If he did it right, the wearer would be able to catch a weapon that was being swung at them.

Of course that was harder than it looked. He had bought some paper and ink to help structure the piece. He was currently working on the piece that would cover the back of the hand.

After a few hours he had the gauntlet mostly done in terms of metalwork. he took the padding he had been provided and began making the gauntlet more comfortable to wear. He then attached the gauntlet pieces together and stuck his hand inside, it went about half-way down his forearm and he moved his fingers to see if he got the joints working. He then took a tool to the joints on the pinky because that joint was bending backwards.

* * *

He passed the complete gauntlet tp a craftsman as he took his leave from the forge. The rumors of his skill had been spreading and so there was a small crowd, maybe thirty people, outside waiting to catch a glimpse of him.

When they realised he was here, most of the crowd left but a few of them stuck around to ask questions. It seemed they more than anyone else wanted to hear his background of how he learned to craft so well, it was his equipment that would protect their lives when they went into combat after all.

He tried to leave after calming most of their worries but one woman stopped him asking "And where do you come from sir?"

Shirou looked at the woman, she wore a uniform without rank like most of the others here so he asked "Why do you ask miss?"

The woman looked surprised but answered "My name is Marge sir, I wanted to know where you came from?"

The woman was a soldier, obviously, but Shirou smiled "You don't need to refer to me by sir. I don't have a command position."

Margaret was seemingly surprised just by that admission but she waited as Shirou pondered and as he answered "From the east. Small place."

The woman looked at him a moment longer before leaving, most of the rest left with her.

* * *

Cloaked Blessing mentally swore, of course he would have made a story by now. I can't even challenge it without making him suspect me.

She sat on the ground near the walls. Her disguise was perfect so everyone would assume she had a good reason to be there. As she sat and thought, the setting sun was cut off by a shadow. Soaring Star stood over her, in her hands was a piece of burning paper that Cloaked recognised as orders from Yu-shan.

Cloaked asked the question "So you're done? Were those orders to go back?"

Soaring Star's smile grew "I did do my main task but I have just been given another job to do before I return."

Cloaked sighed "What is it?"

Soaring Star's face became teasing "Not telling."

Cloaked blessing sighed and prayed that she wouldn't have to put up with her for too much longer.

* * *

Shirou was once again in the muddy hills of swords. He had a theory this time, from what he could tell any sword he had forged had the grass around it and could be traced. So all he had to do was put a noble phantasm he wanted in the patch of grass instead.

He tried to pull out one of the many swords he had made for the army over the last few days but upon coming out the grass withered. He replanted the sword and the grass grew again.

He sighed and looked around, remembering that his world now held a forge. He wondered down and looked in one of the baskets, haematite.

Haematite was an ore containing Iron. He took a few pieces and began working, he didn't fully understand what his hands were doing. Normally his records of weapons started with them already as metal bars. Purifying ore should not be instinctive for him, and yet within what felt like only a few minutes there was a bar of Iron sitting on his countertop.

He looked back to the baskets of coal and looked at his Iron. Steel was next then.

Again, within only minutes he now had a bar of steel. He was proud of it, base materials for any sword of iron or steel. He glanced around and saw a shelf he hadn't seen before; on it sat his bar of Iron from before using it to make steel.

Did this workshop create new materials for him? He placed the steel on the shelf and went outside.

The grass around the workshop looked to be expanding slowly, it was at least a few millimeters further out than it was the previous time he had visited.

He returned to the workshop, both metal bars were just where he had left them. He took the steel and began bashing on it. This took longer, at least an hour, but he had yet another sword of the same sort he made for the army.

He went outside again and tried to plant the sword into the mud. It went in but no grass grew. He cursed, he was still missing something. He wondered over to a copy of the army's swords that he had made in reality and touched it gently and softly asked "What do you have that this one does not?"

The answer came in a flash, above the sword in the ground appeared text "Forged in the deserts of southen creation / Forged for an army / So that a soldier may fight." The text was all white, quickly Shirou ran towards a nearby noble phantasm. While it had no grass around it, Shirou touched it and asked "What is your story?"

In black text it wrote "Aestus Estus: The Original Flame / a hand-crafted crimson sword / made from meteor metal / the ultimate instrument / Wielded by Nero Claudius / The key of the theater" Only a moment after the text appeared a part of it changed. Instead of reading "made from meteor metal" it became "made from starmetal?".

The weapon shifted in place, as if asking to be taken. Shirou did so and figured out why he couldn't use it. The knowledge was instinctive.

Aestus Estus had no history of being a part of creation. It was foreign.

Shirou also knew how to solve this problem, he carried Aestus Estus down to the forge. As he walked, the weapon hummed stronger as if looking forward to what was to happen.

Shirou sighed, He didn't like breaking swords if he didn't have to. In the forge, he placed the sword onto the anvil, looked for the weakest point and brought the hammer down. Aestus Estus shattered and light burst from it. Shirou had half expected it to take more than one hit but he was more distracted by the balls of light now flitting around the room. Each one contained a line from the information before, now however each line was white.

The fragments of the blade were collected in a bucket, they were meteoric iron so it should be fine for reforging.

He began melting down the scraps but as they began to form a bar, one of the lights flitted down. It was only after the bar was ready that Shirou realised it was no longer Iron. It looks like clean steel and it reflected light in five colours. The missing light was the one that refered to Starmetal so Shirou assumed that was what it now was.

He placed the Starmetal on the shelf before instantly taking it off again. He might have never forged with it before but he was confident he had the ability.

He took the metal and began beating it out like steel. However before he was done, he woke.

* * *

End of chapter

More looking in to what his new reality marble can do.


	86. Chapter 76

The new power

* * *

The next night, Shirou was back at the forge. Beside the flame itself was the starmetal he had started work on last time. He once again lifted it into the flames and while it heated up he looked around the forge.

The three metals were still on place on the shelf, by the wall were any tools used in normal forging, around the ceiling danced the lights from Aestus Estus. Shirou took all of these facts in before returning to the fire and taking out the red hot starmetal.

He knew he had to be careful, one wrong blow would warp the metal's ability to channel essence and force him to start over. Before each hammer blow he would look at the blade. He would trace out the patterns of essence with his vision enhanced by his now semi-divine nature, he sort for the places whose magic wouldn't warp when he struck.

By following these instincts, the blade began to take on shape. At some point during the forging process the light that named the blade "Aestus Estus: The Original Flame" had rejoined the metal. It had directed the essence flows in new designs. The only way to forge the blade without ruining the blade was precise shaping based on the flows of essence. Superficially the blade now resembled the form of the original blade but it was now longer and looked like steel with the colourful reflections that starmetal brought instead of pure red.

The main difference that could be noticed if one had both blades to compare was that the original had a form that reminded Shirou of waves. The reforged blade still had the waves but they were much smaller. If you were to pick the blade up and you knew the original blade, you would also notice that the blade's center of mass is off compared to the base sword. Shirou had bought it more in line with the blade to make it easier to wield in his style.

The remaining lights clustered around him then, as if asking to be allowed to join with the blade. Shirou allowed them to.

"Aestus Estus: The Original Flame / a hand-crafted crimson sword / Created in a reality marble / made from starmetal / the ultimate instrument / Wielded by Nero Claudius / Owned by Shirou Emiya / The key of the theater"

The text was now all white.

Shirou picked up the blade, it's metal was slowly becoming more red to match it's legend but he could still see the multi-coloured reflections within the blade. He took it outside and swung it about a bit. It was a perfect blade, In his hands it didn't overswing. He could stop it in a moment if he needed to. The blade cut only as much as it needed to and no more.

In his name he renamed it, the blade's legend accepted the new name.

"Aestus Estus Reficio; The original flame reforged"

He planted the sword into the mud, grass and flowers sprouted around it.

* * *

Shirou woke up with the sun.

He knew he wouldn't be called on today so after leaving a note, he left camp to go a mile or two south.

There he stood, and he traced.

Judging the concept of creation. It was once Nero's blade, now it was his

Hypothesizing the basic structure. Reduced waves for better air resistance, larger blade for more power.

Duplicating the composition material. Starmetal, the unknown metal from this world.

Imitating the skill of its making. He had the skills, he had reforged it after all.

Sympathizing with the experience of its growth. He had only his own memories to work from. That was enough.

Reproducing the accumulated years. He saw the blade cooling and him placing it into the earth.

Excelling every manufacturing process. The blade was new, and yet old. It had been forged in the soul and from there it was called.

In his hands the blade appeared. He felt it's weight, heavier than it had felt inside his reality marble. It was a two handed weapon so he had expected weight.

He swung it around experimentally. Like before even if he decided mid-swing that he didn't want to make this cut, the blade would stop still. He wondered then if the reverse was true when fighting to kill?

Eventually his practice had finished and the blade faded away.

He began making his way back to the camp, before he walked very far however he saw someone.

He struggled to remember her name, it was something like Marge.

She looked at him agasp. He realised she probably saw his practicing.

Slowly she asked "Where did you find such an artifact?"

Shirou tilted his head, he hadn't expected her to care but he answered "I made it."

The woman stamped once on the ground "Impossible, that camp doesn't have access to starmetal! If you truely forged it, where did you get the materials?"

Shirou again realised something was wrong, the only was to describe it was that she was acting 'Out of character' he didn't really know her so he didn't know how she was acting different but he felt it.

The woman winced "Sorry, it doesn't matter." she quickly turned and began heading back to the camp in a hurry. Shirou walked back at his own pace.

He travelled to Rai's tent and left another note. It said something like "This is Shirou, tell Nereth I have recovered a bit of my power."

He would have delivered the message in person but he didn't really want to ask where her tent was unless he needed to.

* * *

Cloaked Blessing gave her observation reports to Yu-shan via prayer before lying back in the bunk arranged for her.

Somehow Emiya had gotten his hands on a starmetal artifact, he claimed to have made it himself but that was unlikely as he had no materials.

She had included within the report a request to know if any starmetal fell in this area and had not been collected so she hoped that revealed more but the mysteries of Emiya grew with each day.

* * *

End of chapter.

So yes, the new reality marble is a way to forge/reforge magic weapons within his soul.


	87. Chapter 77

Demonstration and news.

* * *

Shirou's hammer struck the metal again. With each hit a nice sound came from the metal that was being flattened.

He was working in the camp forge, he was undergoing another test by the craftsmen who were always there. Almost everything that he had made there so far was a sword of some kind so they were testing his ability to make other weapons.

Currently he was creating a halberd. Normal steel was being used for this test instead of the bronze he had been working with yesterday. For the halberd the main thing he was working on was the axe-head. The spike could easily be made later.

After he finished flattening the blade into the right size he took the steel and sharpened it on the stone by his work place. He got the stone up to speed and carefully moved the metal along the spinning stone to sharpen it. With polearms he found it was normally easier to sharpen them before attaching the shaft.

He took the now sharp blade and set it aside to begin working on the spike. That was done quickly as he decided to go for a scythe-like spike that only needed to be sharpened on one edge.

That all done he took the provided shaft and attached the blade and spike to it. He placed the completed weapon down as one of the other craftsmen came to take it to be tested.

At that moment a messenger entered the forge and spoke "General Tepet wishes for Auxiliary Emiya to come to the practice grounds." After his message had been heard he bows and leaves. Shirou saw no reason to wait so he walked over to the exit and left.

At the practice ground there were a few people waiting. Roseblack was there as the messenger had said but so were Nereth and Rai along with the dragonlords who served under roseblack. Shirou felt a little unsure of himself in front of these important people but he gave a salute of a sort.

Roseblack watched him carefully while Nereth spoke "Shirou, I hear that you have recovered your power. Can we see a demonstration? We need to understand it's use in large scale combat." Shirou understood that when she said "We" she meant Roseblack and the dragonlords.

Shirou nodded and opened his palm. Within it he traced one of the swords created during his time in the camp forges. He heard one or two small gasps but Nereth kept a grim expression "Shirou, can you show us the sort that you used when we met?"

Shirou stabbed his first sword into the ground and focused, now in his hand was Aestus Estus Reficio.

He spun the blade around so that it caught the light so everyone could see it was made of starmetal.

One of the male dragonlords caught his breath and asked "Is he accessing Elsewhere? Those are large weapons though, how on creation are his Elsewhere pockets so large?"

Roseblack shook her head "No, from what I know he creates blades. He is creating them anew each time he draws them."

This prompted a much larger gasp from the dragonlords. A female one spoke quickly "Are they permanent? If they are then he could act as a new source of Jade weapons. We could have enough artifacts to completely overpower the forces on the isle."

Shirou shook his head "The normal blades I use can last a long time but anything of this strength has a limited life. An hour at most I think."

That deflated the woman a little but Nereth looked at him and asked one more thing "What about crowds, what can you do about those?"

Shirou dismissed the blade he carried and focused on a point on other side of the field. In the air above him he created many weapons, the results of days in the camp forge, and flung them at the point.

There was now a space about five meters across that was covered in mundane weapons, any thing that would have been there would have been skewered.

The male dragonlord exhaled as he looked at it "He is like a group of Exalted archers mixed with a ballista."

Roseblack finally cracked a smile.

"Very well," she looked at Nereth "He will join us in battle as an auxiliary sorcerer."

Nereth smiled and she and Rai walked over "Well done." she spoke kindly.

Rai nodded "Now some good news for you. Within the week we are shipping off for the isle. The war will soon begin and once it's over you can get a place in the heptagram to research whatever you want."

Nereth nodded "That was the deal."

Shirou looked at the two of them "Okay then."

* * *

In Malfeas, Rin waited on her throne. One of her newer recruits was reading the new figures to her and it wasn't looking good for her.

Sakura's forces outnumbered hers 5 to 1. Sure her plan didn't rely on victory in the battles but if she couldn't make the battles large enough then she wouldn't have time to put her plan into action.

She needed greater numbers or some weapon to tip the balance.

All she had to do was find it.

* * *

End of chapter

I know it was short but I just needed to finish up the Shirou in camp arc so I could move back to Malfeas for a bit.


	88. Chapter 78

Preparations

* * *

Rin wrung her hands as she talked to the demon. She was at an event that could really only be described as a demonic boxing event.

Though "Boxing" might not be the right word, it was far more brutal than boxing. She winced as a limb went flying out of the ring and turned her attention back to the many limbed demon that was running the event. It was a first circle demon she didn't know the name for but it was apparently created to do paperwork for the priests of the endless desert.

Finally the demon relented and shrugged it's many shoulders "Child of the moon, you have shown your goal clearly. And yet what you ask is something I cannot in good faith provide."

Rin raised a finger "What about it is without faith? I see nothing in the agreement that could offend?"

The demon sighed and placed his hands on his desk "I am sure many of the fighters would love to be in such a battle but they are my servants and my master has instructed me to not get involved in wars. I would very much like to provide the service you ask for but it is one I cannot provide."

Rin cursed and spun to leave but the demon called out "A moment please, For the offered price there is something I can provide."

Slowly, Rin turned back to the demon who was giving a strange smile. She shook her head "That price is high, I doubt whatever you could give that isn't already off the table."

"Ah but there is," the demon spoke with a malicious tone "what do you know of behemoths?"

Rin closed her eyes for a moment before answering "They are the tools the yozi used during creation's earliest days. They are all unique and have strange abilities."

"Correct." The demon clapped with three pairs of arms "There are some left in creation proper but most are sealed away or locked down here."

Rin waved her hand in a way that clearly said "Go on." and the demon laughed "Well, there may be a behemoth that could help with your little problem, if you could find a way to control him."

Rin looked curious now "Go on, what?"

The demon crossed a few sets of arms "Nothing more until I get an agreement of payment."

Rin cursed before sighing "Fine, half."

The demon grin grew "Only half the information then? Very well. The behemoth in question is called 'The eater of stone' in ancient days he lived on mount Meru. In those days the mountain grew like bamboo so the eater was created to constantly be eating it at the same rate it was growing. It now lives in Malfeas, eating layers over the course of a few years. I know where it is right now and how to control it."

Rin's eyebrow went up "You, a demon of the first circle, claim to have that sort of knowledge."

"Indeed I do, in my time I signed a lot of things including the papers to do with how he was being kept on the lower levels. I think if you want to create a large scale battle, a behemoth is what you need."

Rin scowled but it was a good deal, she didn't even care if the behemoth would destroy the layer, it was simply a good investment.

"Fine, You will get your payment. How do I get it to serve me?"

The demon's grin seemed to be growing off of it's face.

* * *

Sakura travelled in style. She rode in a Palanquin that had been decorated to show her and her patrons at their best and worst.

She was carried by a team of Angyalkae, which while they produced lovely music were hurting Sakura. The harpists wove music from the air which told of the present. Each listen recalled the things they have lost. Sakura was lucky the palanquin had curtains between her and the street, for only her maid would see her tears.

She was heading to the edge of the sea. Her patron needed to speak with her so she had come. She didn't know what would be requested of her but she had little doubt it had to do with Rin and the forthcoming battle.

She had been looking down since she started crying so she only now looked up to see her maid offering her a block of something that was slightly shiny. Gingerly she took it and the maid explained "I apologise in my failure for not giving this to you earlier, you can use this to stop up your ears if their song hurts too much.

Sakura pulled off a bit of wax and as she brought it to her ear it shifted and pulled itself in. Her Coadjutor then spoke for the first time since the trip began "Don't worry, it isn't sentient, when you want it out just begin pulling it."

Sakura breathed out and got a second piece for her other ear. Once it was in place there was peaceful silence. Sakura wiped away the last of her tears and spoke mentally "You could have warned me in advance that I would be affected in such a way by their song."

Her Coadjutor spoke a quiet apology before speaking in earnest "You do seem to have felt the song strongly, the Angyalkae song is a tale of all that the listener lost. I think you could learn a lot if you thought for a moment why your maid already had the wax ready."

Sakura looked at the ear of the maid and saw a little wax poking out, her Coadjutor gave a mental nod when she had seen it "Their soul is no longer their own and it was likely many years since what they got for giving it up was worth it. They wouldn't cry if they heard the song but it would likely still cause them sadness of a sort."

Sakura was silent as her Coadjutor continued "Always remember, you can still reclaim what you lost. Unlike your maid's soul, it is not gone forever."

Sakura didn't know how to respond to that so she simply asked her Coadjutor to stay silent for the rest of the trip.

* * *

End of chapter.

I'll be honest, I barely knew what I wanted to do with this chapter.

A filler chapter of a sort. I wanted to but a bit of space before the battle begins as it gives more reasons to give out XP (I do have character sheets for the main cast remember)


End file.
